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‘Digital economy being built thru public-pvt joint efforts’


Published : 24 Jun 2021 10:34 PM | Updated : 25 Jun 2021 02:07 AM

State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said the digital economy is being built through the joint efforts of government-private sector and academia. ICT exports have already reached 1 billion and it will be increased to 5 billion dollars by 2025.

The State Minister said this on Thursday while speaking as the chief guest at the concluding session of a three-month training course for CEOs of IT organizations jointly organized by the LICT Project of Bangladesh Computer Council under the Department of Information and Communication Technology and the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) of Dhaka University. 

He said the government has formulated a growth strategy titled 'Mission 5 Billion Dollars' for the IT industry with a view to achieving 5 billion US dollar GDP by 2025. The government wants to achieve this goal with the help of the private sector and academia. He called upon the CEOs of IT companies to play their due role in this regard.

The state minister said the government is providing necessary policy support and incentives to the private sector in view of the fourth industrial revolution. A draft of Made in Bangladesh-ICT Industry Strategy has been formulated for the production of digital devices in the country.

He said the trend of positive growth in the country's economy continues even during the Corona period due to joint public-private efforts and cooperation in the implementation of Digital Bangladesh.

In 2020, the economic growth was achieved at 5.24 percent and in 2021, the per capita income reached 2227 US dollars.

Palak said the government has digitized payment systems to build a cashless society, which has led to the rapid growth of mobile financial services and e-commerce. In April 2021, mobile transactions amounted to Tk 63,479 crore. The growth of e-commerce is about 166 percent.

The state minister for ICT said all government services will be digitized by 2025. Already, various government services are being provided online to 6 million people through more than 7,000 digital centers.

Perth Pratim Dev, Executive Director of Bangladesh Computer Council and Prof. Sheikh Morshed Jahan, Rashed Noman, Director of BACCO, among others, spoke on the occasion conducted by Sami Ahmed, IT-ITES Policy Advisor, LICT Project. The ceremony was presided over by the Director of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Professor Dr Farhat Anwar.

Fifty CEOs of the country's IT companies took part in the three-month training. Later, in the presence of the state minister, Farhat Anwar successfully handed over certificates to the trainees.