The Hindu Business Line : Sweden invited to invest in e-governance projects

Ms Ulrica Messing, Minister of Communications and Regional Policy, Sweden, and Mr Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology, at a press conference in Chennai on Monday. — Bijoy Ghosh

Chennai , Sept. 26

THE Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, has invited Sweden to invest in India's e-governance projects and telemedicine.

Sweden has implemented e-governance and telemedicine in a big way, and India can learn a lot from them in deploying the right technology, he said. Addressing a press meet along with his Swedish counterpart, Ms Ulrica Messing, Mr Maran said after finalising various details, both the countries would sign agreements in Delhi on Wednesday in e-governance, telemedicine and improving software usage in small and medium enterprises.

According to Mr Maran, the IT Ministry is giving a lot of thrust on e-governance projects such as SWAN (state wide area network) and establishing knowledge centres in one lakh villages by 2006.

Sweden, which has a high computer penetration, has agreed to share best practices and experiences with India, he said.

Mr Maran said that his department would showcase secondary cities such as Mysore and Hubli as IT destinations, and help multinational companies to set up presence in these cities. "We need to reduce the stress on Bangalore," he said.

Ms Messing, the Swedish Minister of Communications and Regional Policy, is leading an eight-member ministerial delegation to India.

Swedish companies were comfortable to do outsourcing from India. Stronger relations would help both countries in learning from each other in IT and telecom, she said.

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