Bangladesh: Foreign Min for more initiatives under PPP in ICT
Dhaka, Oct 15 (UNI) Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday underlined the need for taking more initiatives under the public-private partnership (PPP) in ICT sector, terming Bangladesh as a perfect platform of innovation.
Bangladesh's ICT sector has grown by 40 per cent annually since 2010, thanks to the public-private sector initiatives and facilitation from the government, he said.
The Foreign Minister was addressing the inaugural session of the three-day first-ever Digital Device and Innovation Expo-2019 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the city.
Momen said 'Vision 2021' and 'Digital Bangladesh' is no more a dream, it's a reality today.
Emergence and advent of spread of ICT industry, tools and norms have truly uplifted lives and livelihoods of people across the country. He said the government was quick in identifying the ICT industry as a thrust sector.
''Consequently, within just one decade, you all have seen significant job creation, growth in output, improvement in governance,'' he added.
For Bangladesh, Momen said there is no option, but to make right choice and take adequate preparation, so that the country's youth and industries can fully utilise this advantage of technology.
''The government has stepped forward and we think the private sector will reciprocally move ahead,'' he added.
Mentioning that the government has declared tax holiday till 2024, per cent import tax for materials of hardware industry and exceptional cash incentive of per cent for ICT export, the foreign minister hoped that not only the local entrepreneurs, but also the foreign investors will be greatly encouraged to take the rare advantages, offered by the government.
Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority, Information Communication Technology (ICT) Division, Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS), and Idea Project are jointly organising the expo.
State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee for post, Telecommunication and ICT ministry AKM Rahmatullah and Secretary General of World Information Technology and Service Alliance (WITSA) James Posant, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Palak said the government has taken initiatives to make Bangladesh country, a mobile-phone exporting country by 2021.
Moreover, he said Bangladesh will become a robot-exporting nation in the near future, as the government has already taken steps in this regard.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
