Indian Minister for Law & Justice and Electronics & Information
Technology visited the United Kingdom to discuss potential cooperation between
the two sides in the fields of IT and legal affairs. The
Ministers signed a MoU to boost bilateral cooperation and provide a framework
for promoting greater co-operation between judicial and legal professionals in
both countries.
On 11 July, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
released a
press statement that said the Minister for Law & Justice and Electronics
& Information Technology, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad visited the
United Kingdom to discuss potential cooperation between the two sides in the
fields of IT and legal affairs with Mr David Gauke,
the Secretary
of State for Justice, UK.
Over the course of Mr Ravi Prasad’s visit, July 6 to July 10, 2018,
he and Mr David Gauke discussed taking the exchange of legal practitioners
forward, on the basis of reciprocity in accordance with the legal provisions in
their respective countries.
The press release stated that the two Ministers
also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost the bilateral
cooperation in legal affairs that provides a framework for promoting greater
co-operation between the judicial and legal professionals in both countries
through the exchange of expertise and training; and the exchange information
regarding current issues of international significance. The MoU also provides
for the establishment of a Joint Consultative Committee to facilitate these
exchanges.
Mr Ravi Prasad talked about the steps India has
taken to ensure that all Indian citizens have access to justice. India has made
a lot of progress using technology through initiatives like Tele-Law, e-Court
services and the digitisation of the courts in the country. These initiatives
digitally provide advice and support in legal matters and procedures.
The two Ministers reiterated their commitment to deepening bilateral
cooperation in legal matters, including arbitration, legal training and the
exchange of the best practices, taking advantage of the shared common law
heritage of the two countries.
According to the press release, Mr Ravi Prasad also met
Mr Jeremy Wright, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports
and outlined some of the opportunities that have opened up as a result of the
rapid growth of the digital profile and digital penetration of India. Mr Ravi
Prasad asked the UK Minister to encourage UK tech firms to take advantage of these
openings by investing in India.
The National
Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and its counterpart TechUK jointly organised a Round Table
meeting that was chaired by Mr Ravi Prasad and hosted some of the leading
Indian and UK IT firms. Representatives from a number of Indian IT companies
including Wipro,
Infosys
and Tata Consultancy
Service (TCS) as well as UK companies including WNS, First Source,
BBC and NTT attended the event. The Minister appreciated the interest shown by
UK companies in India’s digital story and listed out some of the key areas such
as skill enhancement, fintech, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI)
and cyber-security as the possible areas of growth. He said
that UK IT firms could leverage the growth potential and the size of India’s
growing digital economy, that is expected to be US $1 trillion in the next few
years, for their own growth.
Mr
Ravi Prasad also addressed a gathering of leading Indian and UK professionals
at the Asia House and highlighted the digital opportunities that currently
exist in India. He also delivered a talk to a gathering of top legal experts
and representatives from leading UK Law firms at an event organised by the Law Society of UK
and Wales where he spoke about the investment opportunities that had
emerged in India in a range of sectors due to the far-reaching and bold reforms
undertaken by the present Government.