Asean and India set to enhance cooperation in digital connectivity

INDIA'S Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Singapore this week, primarily to participate in the Shangri-La Dialogue. While he is set to focus on security and maritime issues, Mr Modi is also likely to push his economic agenda during his trip. He is particularly keen on transforming India by enhancing cooperation in digital connectivity with Singapore and the other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member states. This probably also explains his visits to Indonesia and Malaysia en route to Singapore.

During the Asean-India Senior Officials Meeting in Hanoi on April 5 and 6, Mr Modi proposed to launch digital villages in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, to exchange technology and telecommunication insights. Following suit, India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology announced plans in May to establish 700 local digital villages in order to link these remote villages to various e-services under a nationwide Digital India programme.

The Asean-member states have similarly expressed interest in India's digital developments. During an address at an international conference organised by the NUS Institute of South Asian Studies in April, Singapore's Minister for Education, Ong Ye Kung, highlighted technological developments in India, such as the Aadhaar initiative - a nation-wide biometric identification system that aims to centralise validation and verification of the citizens' data. Such a development at a larger scale, he said, served as a golden opportunity for Singapore and South Asia.