In order to discuss future collaborations and partnerships between India and the UK in the innovation and technology sector, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar met with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday. Chandrasekhar was accompanied by a delegation of Indian startups, Unicorns and innovators.
In both India and the UK want to expand the innovation economy, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said. We want to take the digital economy to be 25 per cent of the total economy. The UK government wants to expand the slice of the pie. The Indian minister has held ministerial roundtable discussions with Priti Patel, Home Secretary of UK, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade Government of UK and Chris Philip, Minister for Technology Digital Economy UK at the India Global Forum.
The Minister said that India's progress in the field of technology is completely different from the 1990s when India used to rely on all its technological needs and used to import all parts and equipment for everything it produced. It is now designing 5 G gear and manufacturing the devices that go into making 5 G products. He said that all this was achieved under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Digital India.
He also attended a session on the Future of Digital at the IGF, UK where he spoke about the rapid digitalization and the need to safeguard Digital Nagriks against user harm. He called for collaboration among counties, particularly like-minded democracies, to ensure safety and trust for the users, as Cyberspace is a boundaryless domain.