India and Trinidad and Tobago have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on sharing of INDIA STACK — a collection of open APIs and digital public goods that aim to facilitate identity, data, and payment services on a large scale. Both sides agreed to cooperate in the areas of digital transformation by means of capacity building, training programmes, exchange of best practices, exchange of public officials and experts, development of pilot or demo solutions, etc.
This collaboration comes after Union Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Electronics & IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar met with Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Senator Mr Hassel Bacchus, last week. During the meeting, they discussed mutual cooperation in the fields of IT, emerging technologies, and the India stack.
Highlighting the significance of the India Stack offerings, MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi who believes in the principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbhakam (the world is one family), has always encouraged the offering of India Stack to countries across the globe especially to those that have been left behind in their digitalisation efforts. With the help of India Stack, these countries can climb up the digitalisation ladder rapidly and transform their economies and governance.”
“It shall create a robust ecosystem of startups, developers & system integrators working around it on Next-Gen innovation”, added Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar. The MoU was signed in the presence of officials from the Ministry of Electronics and IT, National E-Governance Division, MeitY and also from the Ministry of External Affairs.
Since June 2023, India has already signed MoUs with countries namely Armenia, Sierra Leone, Suriname, and Antigua & Barbuda to share India Stack while many countries like Mauritius, Saudi Arabia have shown interest and are at an advanced stage of finalizing cooperation on IndiaStack. A similar MoU was signed with Papua New Guinea also last month, showcasing the growing interest and acceptance of the initiative on a global scale. The UPI which is also a part of India Stack, has been accepted in France, UAE, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
