BENGALURU: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will virtually deliver the inaugural address at the Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS)-2021 that will be held from November 17-19.
As per sources from the consulates, the two prime ministers will attend the hybrid summit online. Speaking to mediaperson virtually on Friday, Consul General Sarah Kirlew said Australia will have its largest ever presence at the event with a delegation of 315 people. This includes ministers, policy makers, industry leaders, entrepreneurs and academics.
The Sydney Dialogue sessions are also being held simultaneously by Australia, and several cross-over sessions are planned. Sessions at BTS include deepening India-Australia ties in tech and innovation, AI for growth, evolution and transformation of India, the Sydney Dialogue Cross-Over: Democracies and Global Technology Governance and The Sydney Dialogue Cross-Over: Contested Space: Collaborating in the New Golden Age of Space.
“We are looking forward to having The Sydney Dialogue sessions streamed on the BTS platform; and the opportunity to show content from the BTS to The Sydney Dialogue participants. These will cover Quad space collaboration and we will hear from the foreign ministers of both countries on the impact of tech on democracy” said Kirlew.
“Reflecting the importance of Bengaluru as a technology hub, we’ve recently upgraded our trade office to be headed by an Australian diplomat,” she added. Australian Trade and Investment Commissioner Sam Freeman arrived in Bengaluru in October.
Australia, which is the gold sponsor of the BTS2021, will be a Karnataka Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) partner. GIA was launched in 2017 with the aim of having multilateral relations relating to technology.
New participants
bTS will for the first time have participants from South Africa, Vietnam and UAE.
IT-BT and S&T Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan said new countries are keen on joining GIA to explore areas of collaboration. This year, many tech experts from other countries will speak at the sessions.