AIIA welcomed a delegation from the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) recently.  The visit, program and networking functions were organised by the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) and NASSCOM, together with the NSW and Victorian state governments.

The networking session at Australian Technology Park was a great success – with each delegate taking three minutes to share information about their products and services with the audience of 50.  Australian local companies were very interested to learn how they could partner with Indian companies for mutual benefit – and a number of Australian companies are considering their partnership options with the Indian visitors.

Can your company meet the quality standards, and adapt to the cultural and language challenges required to reap the rewards of successful export to Japan?

The Victorian Exporters' Club invites members and wider industry to join government and industry guest speakers on Wednesday 8 August to explore development opportunities and successful techniques for business in the Japanese ICT market – the largest ICT market in Asia, and one of the most challenging, but rewarding to break into!  

The seminar will include the following presentations from very well qualified guest speakers:

• An overview of the Japanese ICT market and some of the business and cultural aspects of doing business in Japan, from an experienced executive who has lived and worked in Japan for many years;
• JETRO (Japan External Trade Organisation) will explain how they, backed by the Japanese Government, help new exporters set up businesses in Japan; and
• An industry guest speaker will present a “case study” of how they established a rewarding export business in the Japanese market.

AIIA is continuing to monitor the progress of various free trade agreements (FTAs) under negotiation with China, Japan, ASEAN, Malaysia, Chile and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

For ICT companies, the outcomes on intellectual property, government procurement and some e-commerce issues, such as privacy, can make a significant difference to market access in those territories. For example, the level of copyright protection afforded to software, the extent to which governments agree to use only legitimate software and the applicable technical standards can all affect your business.

If you have done business in any of these territories, we are keen to hear your experiences and concerns - this will help inform DFAT's negotiations and ensure that the Australian ICT industry's interests can benefit from this important process. Further details on the status of each of these FTAs are online.  Please direct any comments to Bridget Larsen.