New Delhi, Aug 24 : Expressing dissatisfaction over low level of India Japan trade in IT sector, Information and Communication Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran said here on Wednesday that India-Japan ICT forum is committed to raise bilateral trade.

"The share of Japan in India's software export is just three percent despite huge potential," said Maran after signing three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) for enhancing bilateral cooperation in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. He said technologically Japan is much more advance than India, but considering the vast pool of English speaking people and the growth of Indian IT sector the scope of collaboration is unlimited.

The first meeting of the India-Japan ICT Ministerial Forum concluded with the signing of a Joint Statement by Dayanidhi Maran and Japanese Minister of Internal affairs and Communications, Taro Aso. Both the sides decided to constitute Working Groups comprising of industries and representatives of the Government in the areas of Broadband, Mobile Communication, E-Governance, Information Security, R&D and Ubiquitous Computing.

In order to monitor the activities of the Working Groups and the implementing agencies, through regular interaction between Government-to-Government, Government-to-Business and Business-to-Business, appropriate Joint Task Force would be constituted under the framework of ICT Forum, the statement said. The Joint Task Force will be headed by M. Madhavan Nambiar, Additional Secretary, Department of Information Technology from Indian side and Ishida, Director General, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) from the Japanese side, said Maran.

Three MoU were signed separately between NICT of Japan and C-DAC, C-DOT and IIT (Guwahati) to undertake and promote joint programmes in R&D and development of human resource. The MoU between NICT and C-DAC envisages cooperation on information and telecommunications research. The forum is the outcome of a programme of cooperation, comprising of eight fold initiatives chalked out by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi during the latter's visit to India in April this year.