India and Trinidad and Tobago have signed an MoU on sharing of INDIA STACK — a collection of open APIs and digital public goods that aims to facilitate identity, data, and payments services on a large scale.
According to a release by MeitY, Both sides have 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.
The development comes a week 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.
Commenting on the assocation, MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said, “Prime Minister Shri 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.
Over the past two monthsm, India has signed MoUs with countries, including 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, the report said.
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.
What is India Stack?
India Stack is a collection of open Application Programming Interface (APIs) and digital public goods that aim to facilitate identity, data, and payment services on a large scale. These APIs serve as the foundation upon which external entities can construct software that taps into government identification, payment networks, and data.
This digital framework operates on the principle of interoperability, with various components seamlessly integrated. Consequently, private enterprises have the capability to develop applications that are linked with state services. This integration facilitates effortless consumer access to a wide spectrum of services, ranging from welfare disbursements to loan requests.
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