Cabinet approves India-Sierra Leone MoU on digital solutions

The MoU aims to foster increased collaboration, creating job opportunities in the field of information technology.

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the Memorandum of Understanding signed on June 12, 2023 between India’s Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and and the Ministry of Information and Communications of the Republic of Sierra Leone on Cooperation in the field of sharing successful Digital Solutions implemented at Population Scale for Digital Transformation.

The MoU aims to encourage closer cooperation and the exchange of experiences and digital technology-based solutions (i.e. INDIA STACK) in the implementation of both countries’ digital transformational programmes, the Cabinet said in an official release.

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The MoU envisions greater collaboration leading to job opportunities in the sector of information technology.

The MoU will take effect on the date of the Parties’ signature and will be in effect for three years.
Bilateral cooperation in the field of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) will be expanded on both a G2G and a B2B basis. The activities anticipated in this MoU will be funded through regular operating allocations made by their administration, the official release read.

According to the official statement, MeitY is collaborating with a number of countries and multilateral agencies for fostering bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the ICT domain. Over the period, MeitY has entered into MoUs/MoCs/Agreements with its counterpart organizations/ agencies from various countries to promote cooperation and exchange of information in the ICT domain.

This is in consonance with the various initiatives taken by Government of India such as Digital India, Atmanirbhar Bharat, Make in India etc. to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. In this changing paradigm, there is an imminent need for exploring business opportunities, sharing of best practices and attracting investments in the digital sector with the objective of enhancing mutual cooperation.

“Over the last few years, India has demonstrated its leadership in implementation of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and has successfully provided delivery of services to public even during COVID pandemic. As a result, many countries have evinced interest in learning from India’s experiences and entering into MoUs with India for learning from India’s experiences,” the press release read.

India Stack Solutions are DPls created and implemented at the population level by India to facilitate access and delivery of public services. It aspires to provide meaningful connectivity, promote digital inclusiveness, and enable easy access to government services.

These are based on open technologies, are interoperable, and are intended to encourage business and community participation in order to drive innovation. However, each country’s needs and obstacles in developing DPI are distinct, despite the fact that the core functionality is comparable, allowing for worldwide cooperation.