New Delhi, Apr. 3: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India's apex industry body and the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) have entered into an agreement to help create ICT infrastructure and foster International Software Talent in the African continent.

As part of this capacity building and skill development endeavour, NIIT and CII will share high quality education resources from India and involve other appropriate players from the Indian industry to help Africa develop human capital for the global IT industry.

A Co-operation Agreement to this effect was signed between Shipra Tripathi, Director and Head-Africa, CII, and P Rajendran, Director and COO, NIIT late last evening.

A senior delegation comprising of business leaders, government officials and media representatives from African countries are currently in India for the 'First India Africa Summit' dialogue that aims at strengthening bilateral relations.

As part of the agreement, NIIT will provide relevant IT curricula in line with international IT trends, and content for IT, soft skills and entrepreneurship for training in Universities and Colleges in Africa. CII on the other hand will facilitate internship with the Indian industry.

Speaking on the occasion, Rajendran said: ''Our endeavour in this capacity building partnership is to scale up the offering of quality educational resources and methodology from NIIT, to foster talent in Africa for global IT industry. We are confident that together with CII, we will be able to accelerate talent growth and push forward development of ICT in Africa, at a fast pace,'' added Rajendran.

Elaborating on the MoU, Tripathi said: ''CII believes that private sector will drive the IT revolution in Africa and effectively bridge the digital gap that presently exists. NIIT is a key partner in this endeavour. Our joint effort will be to address the immediate needs and the long term ambitions of the African countries.''

NIIT and CII will work together and explore modalities of embedding NIIT's industry endorsed IT training programs in the curriculum of universities and colleges in Africa, under its 'NIIT Inside' model. Both organizations will also look at possibilities of establishing 'Centers of Excellence' for Talent Development in different African countries. (ANI)