25.01.2012 - Oslo

Minister visits India and Singapore 5-11 February

The Minister of government administration, reform and church affairs, Ms Rigmor Aasrud, will be visiting India and Singapore from Sunday 5 February till Saturday, 11 February 2012.

The purpose of the journey is to establish closer ties between knowledge environments in Norway and the two Asian countries in the fields of ICT and public digital services. The visit is part of the efforts to develop a Norwegian strategy for ICT based innovation and value creation.

India has one of the world’s largest ICT industries, employing more than 2.5 million people. The minister is visiting India from the 5th to the 8th of February.

In New Dehli on the 6th of February, the minister will among other activities have a round table conference for Norwegian ICT companies based in India, visit the Indian innovation council and meet the Indian ID project UID. The project is aiming at providing 600 million Indians with electronic ID by 2014.

I Bangalore on 7-8 February, Ms Aasrud will visit the IT companies Tata, Wipro and Infosys. Included in the program are solutions for green, energy efficient buildings, smart energy and smart waste handling and discussions on innovation and entrepreneurship. She will also visit Indian Institute of Science to get an insight into their ICT education and training, and take a look at the Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor’s field activities.

9-10 February the minister will visit Singapore, one of the leading countries in the field of electronic administration. During her visit to Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, minister Aasrud will be looking at Singapore’s efforts to get public services on the internet. On her program is also a visit to the science, technology and research institution A*Star.

Ms Aasrud will visit the Norwegian Seamen’s Church in Singapore on the 10th of February.

During her visit the minister will have discussions with minister colleagues from t