Karnataka is fully committed towards fruitful implementation of business partnerships and does not believe in merely entering into memorandum of understanding (MoU) with companies and countries and leaving it, said Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan.
“We are keen to take each of these MoUs we sign to the logical end. We are not just interested in signing them and forgetting about them,” he said on Monday while addressing a gathering of global delegates and diplomats at a session on Building International Partnership, held in connection with the State’s tech exposition, Bengaluru Tech Summit, scheduled to be held between November 19 and 21. In the last over 25 years, the State would have entered into hundreds of MoUs with prospective domestic and global investors.
“So what has been signed (in the past) has to be taken up properly and see to it that the implementation happens very effectively,” said the Deputy CM, who also holds the IT, BT and Science&Technology portfolio.
On the scope of collaboration, he said, it should not be limited to science and technology, but also extend to the exchange of ideas, innovation, startups and access to the market.
According to him, this edition of tech summit, BTS-2020, would support about 50 startups in the country to expand their businesses to the European market while Karnataka alone is set to enter into a dozen MoUs with partner countries of Global Innovation Alliance (GIA).
“The Hague Business Agency will launch a Digital Soft-Landing programme for Indian startups and this will enable Indian tech startups to take their technology to Europe. Holland is the gateway to Europe for goods and services, and for technology as well. In addition to this, two MoUs will be signed in the areas of cyber security and agri-tech, where both sides will be working together on mentorship, honing skills, startups, and R&D,” he further said.
H.E. Barry O’Farrell, Australia's High Commissioner to India; Jette Bjerrum, Consul General of Denmark in Bengaluru; Dr. Marjorie Vanbaelinghem, Consul General of France in Bengaluru; Achim Burkart, Consul General of Germany in Bengaluru; Jonathan Zadka, Consul General of Israel to South India; Gert Heijkoop, Consul General of The Netherlands for southern India; Dr. Fanny von Heland, Counsellor, Innovation and Science, embassy of Sweden in India; Sebastien Hug, Consul General of Switzerland in Bengaluru;, Jeremy Pilmore-Bedford, UK Deputy High Commissioner in Bengaluru; and Maruru, representative of Japan; were part of the event.
