The 7^th Japan-India ICT Joint Working Group meeting was held on 13^th May2022 on a virtual platform. Mr. V.L Kantha Rao, Additional Secretary, Department of Telecommunications and H.E. Mr. Sasaki YUJI, Vice Minister for Policy Coordination (International Affairs), Japan co-chaired the meeting. Senior representatives from both governments and other non-governmental stakeholders from Industry, R&D and Academia attended the meeting.  

Recalling the India Japan Summit Meeting in March 2022, both sides recognized the need for growing cooperation under the India-Japan Digital Partnership with a view to enhancing digital economy through promotion of joint projects for digital transformation, support to provide opportunities for Indian IT professionals to work in Japan and Japanese companies, and collaboration made in the area of IoT, AI and other emerging technologies. The JWG discussions were focused on enhancing further cooperation in various fields like 5G, Open RAN, Telecom Network Security, submarine cable systems, and Quantum Communications. 

India and Japan share a common vision of a peaceful, stable and prosperous world and this has now taken the shape of “Special Strategic and Global Partnership”. This year 2022 is the 70^th Anniversary of India Japan Diplomatic relations and India is also entering Amrit Kaal, the 25 year long lead up to India @100. ICT being the key driver of development provides a massive opportunity for cooperation between both countries to build a robust foundation for the present and future world.

While underlining the recent developments in telecom sector, Additional Secretary (Telecom) stated that India 4G LTE telecom stack has been tested by CDOTTata Consultancy Services – Tejas Network consortium and is available for rollout in India. The 5G Federated Test bed has been set up in 8 Research institutions In India at an estimated cost of USD 35 million. 

The participants of 7^th JWG meeting included Government officials, Industry and academia stakeholders from India and Japan. The meeting deliberated on the best practices and experience on Open RAN, Massive MIMO, Quantum Communications, Connected Cars, 5G Use cases and 6G Innovation. The 7^th JWG agreed to enhance cooperation in these areas under the framework of Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between India and Japan.

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RKJ/M

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