Nepal, India pledge cooperation in ICT sector, with focus on the upcoming IT Decade

KATHMANDU: Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, and Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Naveen Srivastava, held a meeting today. 

The meeting, which took place at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT) in Singha Durbar, saw Minister Sharma extend her congratulations to the newly formed government in India. She expressed her confidence that the relationship between Nepal and India would reach new heights during its tenure. 

As the government's Spokesperson, Sharma expressed her belief that there would be high-level cooperation between the two countries in the development of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.  

She stated that the government has declared the years from 2024 to 2034 as the 'IT Decade', and emphasised that cooperation from India would be crucial to its successful advancement. 

According to Sharma, a master plan, complete with an annual action plan and defined work areas, has been established to progress the IT Decade. She expressed a keen interest in learning from the practices and experiences of India, which has made significant strides in the IT sector in a relatively short period.

The first year of the IT Decade will be dedicated to devising policies and building infrastructure, the Minister said, and called for cooperation from all sectors towards this end.

"We have identified agriculture, tourism, energy, and industries as the foundations for economic prosperity," Minister Sharma said. She added that, alongside these four sectors, IT has been recognised as a new foundation for economic transformation. "This is a significant policy shift for us."

She suggested that the delivery of public services could be expedited through the development of telemedicine and e-learning platforms in rural areas. By digitising education and health services, the government has emphasised the development of digital infrastructure.

She informed the Indian Envoy that progress has been made in establishing national cybersecurity and organising an integrated government data security centre. She suggested that India could assist in providing training to human resources in this area.

In response, Indian Ambassador Srivastava acknowledged that India has made substantial progress in the digital public infrastructure sector and expressed his readiness to support the development of IT in Nepal.

Ambassador Srivastava highlighted the areas in which India could extend support to Nepal for the development of IT. These areas include experience exchange and training, support in building digital public infrastructure, and connecting the Indian private sector, which operates startups in the IT sector, to attract investment in Nepal. 

He suggested that officials from Nepal might consider an exposure visit to Bangalore and New Delhi in India to learn from India's progress in IT, for which they were prepared to facilitate.
He also mentioned that the distribution of SIM cards for Nepalis residing in India had been facilitated, in line with the commitment he made during Minister Sharma's official visit to India the previous year. 

During the meeting, Minister Sharma drew the attention of the Government of India to the need for effectively accelerating the development projects being constructed in Nepal with Indian loan assistance.

Also present at the meeting were officials from the MoCIT and the MoFA.