Wednesday, September 15, 2010
U.S. technology delegation heading to India
From The Hindu
Aneesh Chopra, Chief Technology Officer in the Obama administration, and Alec Ross, the State Department’s Senior Advisor for Innovation, will lead a “technology delegation” of United States business and thought leaders to New Delhi and Rajasthan, it has been announced.
A statement from the office of the State Department spokesman said that the delegation was “an important first step of the U.S.-India Innovation Exchange, announced by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna during the June 4 U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue”.
The Strategic Dialogue identified technology as a vital common interest between the two countries and it was founded upon a shared innovation-based culture devoted to cutting-edge research and visionary entrepreneurship, officials said.
Citing the global leadership of the U.S. and India in technology sectors such as software and computing, and telecommunications and energy, the State Department said this particular delegation was designed to leverage U.S. and Indian expertise to help produce real-world technology solutions in three areas — energy, education and e-Governance.
The meetings with Indian business and government leaders would help to spur “productive discussion and thought around identifying new projects” and they would aim to deliver projects ready for investment and ultimate market entry.
Officials also said that project ideas would likely take on the form of public-private partnerships, private-private joint ventures, and “working groups dedicated to finding new ways to tackle big problems”. They added that the U.S. was “optimistic about the potential of new projects arising from the Delegation”.
Labels: Aneesh Chopra, U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue
U.S. Ambassador for global women’s issues in India
From The Hindu
Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues is visiting India this week, the State Department announced. She will also be visiting China after her meetings in India.
A statement from the office of the State Department Spokesman notified that Ms. Verveer is in India this week, during September 11-15 and would be meeting with various self-help groups, businesswomen and NGOs working on human rights and women’s empowerment issues in Chennai.
Further, the Ambassador would stop by New Delhi, where she will “continue her work on the advancement of the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue on Women's Empowerment,” officials said.
They added that the Strategic Dialogue, which was kicked off earlier this year in Washington, had led to an unprecedented focus on women’s empowerment in the history of the U.S.-India relationship.
With this backdrop, Ms. Verveer is also scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the Asia Women's Leadership Regional Summit, an event that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proposed organising during her visit to India in 2009.
Labels: Melanne Verveer, U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue, women's empowerment
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Sibal pitches for U.S.-India university partnerships
From The Hindu
Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday made a strong pitch for university-level partnerships in education between India and the United States.
Speaking before the start of the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue at an event hosted by the U.S.-India Business Council, Mr. Sibal said that India could not single-handedly build the 700 universities and 35,000 colleges it would need over the next 10 years of growth.
He noted that under the Right to Education Act, the government aimed to reach a gross enrolment ratio of 30 per cent for Indians between the ages of 18-24 by 2020, up from its current level of 12.4 per cent.
Arguing that 22 per cent Americans today were more than 65 years of age and that the number would, by 2050, increase to 39 per cent, he asked, “Which part of the world will the workforce come from? I guess the only answer is countries like India.”
Suggesting that this process depended on collaborations based on the three pillars of education – access, inclusion and excellence – Mr. Sibal said, “The frontiers of knowledge are global and the frontiers of investment are regional. In a sense there is a shift in the global economy and the shift is eastward. It is time for us to recognise that.”
He said that India and the U.S. would lead the 21st century because “these two nations have the kind of genetic [and pluralistic] diversity that no other country in the world has".
Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday made a strong pitch for university-level partnerships in education between India and the United States.
Speaking before the start of the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue at an event hosted by the U.S.-India Business Council, Mr. Sibal said that India could not single-handedly build the 700 universities and 35,000 colleges it would need over the next 10 years of growth.
He noted that under the Right to Education Act, the government aimed to reach a gross enrolment ratio of 30 per cent for Indians between the ages of 18-24 by 2020, up from its current level of 12.4 per cent.
Arguing that 22 per cent Americans today were more than 65 years of age and that the number would, by 2050, increase to 39 per cent, he asked, “Which part of the world will the workforce come from? I guess the only answer is countries like India.”
Suggesting that this process depended on collaborations based on the three pillars of education – access, inclusion and excellence – Mr. Sibal said, “The frontiers of knowledge are global and the frontiers of investment are regional. In a sense there is a shift in the global economy and the shift is eastward. It is time for us to recognise that.”
He said that India and the U.S. would lead the 21st century because “these two nations have the kind of genetic [and pluralistic] diversity that no other country in the world has".
Labels: U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue
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