India, France ink deal on cooperation in digital technologies


India and France have agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of digital technologies.

The MoU intends to promote closer cooperation and exchange of information pertaining to digital technologies and will mutually support each participant’s goal to promote access to digital technology in their country.

“The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the signing of the MoU between the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty of France,” a statement said.

“Both government to government (G2G) and business to business (B2B) bilateral cooperation in the field of digital technologies will be enhanced through the MoU,” it said.

MeitY has been mandated to promote international cooperation in the emerging and frontier areas of Information Technology under the bilateral and regional framework of cooperation, it added.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to France, it was agreed to allow use of UPI payments at Eiffel Tower, a revolutionary step towards digital payment infrastructure.

In 2019, the countries announced the Indo-French Road map on Cyber security and Digital Technology. Under this, they are pursuing an ambitious bilateral cooperation on advanced digital technologies, particularly in the fields of supercomputing, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and quantum technologies, including in the framework of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI).