The European Union has expressed interest in building Bangladesh-EU IT Connect Platform Union which will help IT businessmen to have a matchmaking platform for exchange of information.
Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Bangladesh, Charies Whitely said this during a meeting with state minister for Information and Communication, Zunaid Ahmed Palak at ICT Tower in Agargaon on Tuesday.
The meeting also agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between Bangladesh and the EU to provide scholarships for research and innovation to talented students in Bangladesh under the EU's ‘Horizon’ program.
Meanwhile, the state minister said the present government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is implementing Digital Bangladesh by defining four pillars. The country’s ICT sector has stood on a strong footing as a result of timely and effective steps in the IT sector in the last 13 years.
“About 2 million young people enter the workplace every year. Bangladesh ranks second in online labor force. About 6.5 lakh freelancers in the country are earning about US 500 million from the outsourcing sector. By 2041, various programs are being taken and implemented to move the country from a labor-dependent economy to knowledge-based economy,” added the state minister.
To build technology based manpower to tackle the Fourth Industrial Revolution Target Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) 300 schools of the future and specialized labs are being set up in different universities in the country to provide training in new technologies including robotics.
He informed the Ambassador that the target has been set to earn US 5 billion in the IT / ITES sector by 2025 and ensure 100 percent internet and government services.
He sought the assistance of EU-Bangladesh to work jointly on various issues including ICT.
The EU ambassador praised the development of various sectors of Bangladesh in 13 years under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The Ambassador said that in a short span of time, various sectors including the ICT sector of Bangladesh have undergone tremendous development.
He expressed hope that Bangladesh would go further in various fields including information technology in the coming days. The Ambassador assured that the EU would stand by Bangladesh in the development and growth of the ICT sector.
Among others present at the time were Maurizio CIAN, EU Counselor to Bangladesh and senior officials of the ICT department.
