The CARICOM Mission to India led by the Hon. K.D. Knight, current Chairman of the Community Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Jamaica continued its five-day visit with stops at a number of Hi-Tech organizations in Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh (State). The Delegation, which includes Secretary-General Edwin Carrington and Special Assistant Glenda Itiaba, met with representatives of the e-Seva Centre – a one stop agency designed to integrate, simplify and upgrade the provision of government services to the wider population.
This Public/Private Sector initiative holds great promise for the modernization of government services in CARICOM countries as they confront the new demands of the 21st Century.
The delegation followed up this encounter with a visit to Hi-Tech City – a centerpiece of India’s new Silicone Valley. The giant software enterprise, which assisted in boosting India’s software exports to some US$11 bn. last year, provides a model approach to the diversification of developing economies, such as those of the Caribbean Community.
The possibility of obtaining technical assistance from this organization as CARICOM seeks to implement its 2003 ICT Connectivity Agenda was raised during the discussions.
As part of a packed Friday agenda in Hyderabad, the Mission also met with the representatives of the National Institute for Rural Development (NIRD). With some 70% of the Indian population living in rural areas and a significant proportion under the poverty line, this organization holds a critical place in India’s development efforts. Armed with enormous technical capacity and a broad mandate ranging from the development and control of natural resources, to sustainable development, to local government, to youth empowerment and employment and to the development of women, NIRD possesses enormous experience and competence, much of which is of relevance to the development of CARICOM. Already experienced in the provision of training to many countries and organizations struggling with the multi-faceted issue of rural development, NIRD expressed a willingness to assist CARICOM in relevant areas of competence.
All of these areas of interest discussed by the Mission will likely find a place on the agenda of the first meeting of the CARICOM-India Joint Commission to be held early in 2004. The establishment of this body emerges from the Agreement signed in Delhi on Tuesday 25 November, 2003.
The delegation now moves on to Mumbai where it will conclude its mission and Head for London and Nigeria to lend support to Heads of Government during their meeting with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and during the 2003 CHOGM in Abuja respectively.
