Amid various economic challenges including rising commodity prices in different countries and the Russia-Ukraine war, Bangladesh has adopted new strategies in the management of its state on the advice of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
In light of this, every ministry has started making changes in their own management strategy. Hence, ministries are trying to reduce their costs and cancelling their programme schedules.
State minister for the ICT Division Mr. Zunaid Ahmed Palak said that the ICT division has also reduced its programmes that were scheduled to take place this financial year. But in the context of the global situation and in the light of the special strategy of state management, the various activities of the division have brought about some changes in the organization of regular campaigns, events or programmes with considerable cost reduction.
He made the statement at a virtual press conference on different events and program issues in the financial year 2022-23 of ICT Division on Thursday.
Senior Secretary of ICT Division N M Zeaul Alam PAA and others were also present virtually.
The state minister highlighted the importance of the noteworthy events among the flagship events of the ICT Division. He said, Digital World 2022, Digital Devices and Innovation Expo, BPO Summit, Blockchain Olympiad Bangladesh, National High School Programming Contest, 16th International Children's Film Festival, World Congress on IT (WCIT), Bangladesh-India Startup Exchange, Japan IT Week, Channel i Digital Bangladesh Media Awards, Roadshow Dubai/London Branding, International Expo (Japan, India, UK, America, Europe on ICT), Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) on Bangladesh, Tech Carnival, Victory Day Vehicle Branding , BUET CSE fest and ICT Jamboree (Bangladesh Scout) events have already invited EoIs and OTMs for some of the mentioned events.
Events have been canceled this year due to the current global economic situation. However, considering the national day, it is planned to organize "Digital Bangladesh Day" on a limited scale.
It is to be noted that on 15th November 2022, either by mistake or purposefully, a news article was published in a daily newspaper Prothom Alo titled “ICT Department Seeks 75 Crore for Programs in Current Fiscal Year” which came to the notice of ICT Division authority. The press briefing was organized as the news media felt the need to explain the entire matter as the title and the description inside the news, i.e. the mentioned information may be misrepresented by the readers or the public or cause confusion.
The state minister also said that the total budget for the mentioned programs was Tk 75 crore. As a result of cancellation of 17 programs in the interest of the country and the interest of the people, a decision was taken to refund about Tk 40 crore from the said budget.
It is specially noted that if the ICPC World Finals Dhaka was not organized, it would have been possible to refund about 30 crore of the said event. But the decision to organize ICPC was finalized in 2017, as a result of which Bangladesh is responsible to the whole world, the ICT Division organized the international program known as World Cup of Programming to keep the honor of Bangladesh intact. Keeping in view the current global recession, the ICT Division is trying to reduce overall expenditure.
Finally, the state minister for the ICT Division, Palak answered different questions of the media persons participating in the press conference.
