On April 18, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) held a discussion with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) of India where they reaffirmed their shared values and willingness to consider and deepen their cooperation to contribute to the growth of digital infrastructure in India under the partnership between Japan, the United States, and the Republic of Korea. Based on the trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)*1, JBIC held a high-level meeting with DFC and KEXIM in March 2024. And in the meeting held this time, the three organizations discussed with MeitY the future specific direction and framework for supporting India’s digital infrastructure, which had been agreed at the high-level meeting*2.
DFC, a U.S. government development finance institution, was established to mobilize and facilitate the investment of private capital for the economic and social development of emerging market countries by offering financing, political risk insurance, and other financial tools for development projects. KEXIM is a policy-based financial institution wholly owned by the government of Korea that extends credit in such forms as export loans and guarantees to promote international trade, overseas investment, etc. of Korean companies. And MeitY is a government office that governs India’s IT sector, including digital infrastructure and cybersecurity. Under the MoU signed by JBIC, DFC, and KEXIM, the three institutions have already held several working-level meetings to discuss the opportunities for trilateral cooperation in areas such as the development of quality infrastructure, energy transitions toward decarbonization, and enhancing the resilience of global supply chains, especially in the Indo-Pacific region.
Digital infrastructure is the major economic driver in India, as evidenced by the fact that the ICT sector constitutes more than 13 percent of its GDP. The government of India has improved its digital infrastructure nationwide with the aim of growing the ICT sector to USD1 trillion by 2025. In this meeting, the trilateral parties showed MeitY their past record of collaborations in technologies and initiatives related to digital infrastructure as well as the future possiblities of their collaboration with MeitY. They also reaffirmed they will continue to discuss supporting India’s digital infrastructure projects, such as 5G/Open RAN, data centers, and smart cities, by making full use of the financial tools in accordance with the MoU and the agreement at the high-level meeting in March 2024.
As Japan’s policy-based financial institution, JBIC will continue to contribute toward the further development of economic relations with related countries to tackle global issues, such as Digital Transformation (DX), by collaborating closely with such overseas governments and policy-based financial institutions.
Note
- *1
- *2