Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday said about 10 crore people living in 60 percent of geographical areas across the country came under the high-speed internet facility since the government is committed to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by leveraging information technology.
"Bangladesh government is committed to utilize the facilities of the 'Digital Bangladesh' and leverage the IT to achieve the sustainable development goals, create employment for all and transform the country into a developed one," he said.
The foreign minister made the remarks while speaking at a function at a city hotel here on the occasion of the end of National ICT Infra-Network for Bangladesh Government Phase-III (Info-Sarker Phase-3) Project of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) under the ICT Division, said a press release.
Momen said that the Info-Sarker Phase-3 project has played a vital role in connecting the citizens with a successful implementation of Connecting Citizens target, one of the four pillars of 'Digital Bangladesh'.
Under the project, the foreign minister said, entrepreneurs at the Union Digital Centers (UDCs) have been being provided 5 Mbps bandwidth service at free of cost for the last four years, which helped to provide around 80 crore government services to the people at rural areas.
Some 1,09,244 government institutions, including educational institutions, health complexes, land offices, and other government offices, at the village level across the country are being brought under the broadband connectivity under the project, he said, adding that employment opportunities have been created for a large number of young people through freelancing at the project areas.
State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak presided over the function while Ambassador of China to Bangladesh Li Jiming, Senior Secretary of the ICT Division NM Zeaul Alam, CEO (Secretary) of Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) of the Prime Minister's Office Dr Md Mushfiqur Rahman and the Executive Director of BCC Ranajit Kumar were present as the special guests.