The Australian province of Victoria will send a high-level delegation to Kerala in February 2014 to look at ways of boosting mutual cooperation on various fronts.
This will be the first time it engages Kerala, says Howard Ronaldson, Secretary, Department of Development, Business and Innovation, State of Victoria.
BUSINESS SESSION
He announced this at a session organised here by hosts Group of Technology Companies (GTech), industry body of software companies in Kerala.
Ronaldson is leading a Victorian Government delegation on an exploratory visit here. During the two-day visit, it will meet with senior officials here to discuss the road map for cooperation.
On his part, Ronaldson identified information technology, education and sports as key areas for mutual cooperation. “We are looking forward to a time when we can investigate the possibility of a concrete one-to-one agreement with Kerala.
TWO-WAY FLOW
“This is expected to assist in the two-way flow of goods, services, people, ideas, capital and culture,” Ronaldson added.
Speaking on the occasion, P.H. Kurian, Principal Secretary-Industry and IT, Kerala, hoped to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Victorian Government early next year.
“This would put on fast track various engagements that we have initiated between the two States,” Kurian added.
V.K. Mathews, Chairman, GTech, observed that both States stand to gain from the collaboration. On the one hand, companies in Victoria will benefit from the quality of talent and innovative solutions on offer here.
SMALL COMPANIES
On the other, small and medium companies in Kerala can hope to widen their business footprint in Australia, Mathews added.
Anoop P. Ambika, Secretary, GTech, also spoke during the business session in which at least 24 IT companies from Technopark were represented.
The visit by the Victorian delegation was a follow-up to an earlier visit of a Kerala IT delegation led by GTech to various Australian States early this year.
vinson.kurian@thehindu.coin