Rajeev Chandrasekhar meets UK PM Boris Johnson; was accompanied with Indian Startups, Unicorn Heads

To discuss future collaborations and partnerships between India and UK in the innovation and technology sector, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar met with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday. Chandrasekhar was accompanied with a delegation of Indian startups, Unicorns and innovators.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar said “both India and UK want to dramatically expand the innovation economy. We want to take the digital economy to be 25 per cent of the total economy. The UK government also wants to expand the slice of that pie too.”

The Indian minister also held ministerial roundtable discussions with Priti Patel, Home Secretary- 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.

On India’s progress in the field of technology, the Minister said that unlike the 1990s when India used to rely on all its technological needs and used to import all parts and equipment for everything it produced, the scenario is completely different today. “It is now designing 5G gear and manufacturing the devices that go into making of 5G products. All this has been achieved under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India vision," he added.

He also attended a session on the Future of Digital at the IGF, UK where he put forth his views on the rapid digitalization and the need for safeguarding Digital Nagriks against user harm. As Cyberspace being a boundaryless domain, he called for collaboration amongst counties, especially like-minded democracies, to ensure safety and trust for the users.