The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an organisation backed by the governing authority of the Emirate of Sharjah, will open a technology innovation centre at Infopark, Kochi. The centre could be opened by the end of this month or next month, according to official sources.
The centre is intended to expand the scope of IT operations of various companies based in Sharjah. It will be a mutually beneficial arrangement for Sharjah-based companies as well as IT companies in Kerala, according to Ajay Kumar, Principal Secretary, Information Technology Department, Kerala. He told The Hindu that the Kerala IT department will provide the facilities at the centre. The centre was proposed to be opened during the first week of April, but had to be postponed consequent upon the demise of a member of the Royal family of the emirate.
The significance of the opening of the centre lies in the fact that it could give way to a quantum jump in the volume of bilateral business. There are hundreds of companies in Sharjah which could provide orders for executing the IT enabled services to the Kerala based IT companies. The initiative could further strengthen the business transactions. Kerala could benefit from work orders for e-governance projects from many of the companies in the emirate and nearby areas, he said.
Sharjah is among the top group of emirates of the United Arab Emirates in terms of financial capacity and industrial expansion. The Hamriyah Free Zone Authority, an officially backed facility for setting up industrial units, has attracted over 400 Indian companies there during the past few years.
The Free Zone Authority is keen on expanding relationship with Kerala-based companies, its Director General Rashid Al Leem said.
“The signing of a memorandum of understanding for setting up an innovation centre between Kerala government and Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry underlines this fact,” Mr.Rashid, who was in Kochi on Wednesday, told The Hindu .
“Though economic slowdown had affected the emirate, it is fast recovering from the situation and new opportunities are emerging; but it is not possible to mention a specific point of time for total recovery”, he said.
The MOU for setting up the centre was signed by Siddhartha Bhattacharya, CEO of Infopark, and the representative of Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and industry four months ago at Sharjah. Confirming the move to launch the project, Mr.Bhattacharya told The Hindu that the centre would help value addition leading to business development.
The Sharjah-based companies would come in close contact with the Kerala-based companies. This could be mutually beneficial, he said.
