The development work of hi-tech parks in Bangladesh's eight districts is expected to begin next month (February).
Besides lending for the project, India has extended its support to establish specialised labs in the IT parks of Bangladesh and develop human resources in the information communication technology (ICT) sector.
This was discussed at a views exchange meeting between Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami and the State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak at the conference room of the BHTPA in the city's Agargaon area on Monday.
Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA) Managing Director Bikarna Kumar Ghosh and officials of the ICT division, BHTPA and Indian High Commission in Dhaka were present at the meeting, a BHTPA statement said.
At the meeting, Mr Doraiswami said India is interested to collaborate more with Bangladesh in developing its ICT along with other sectors.
He also expressed the hope that the bilateral relation between the two countries will strengthen further in the days to come.
Mr Palak said the trade gap between the two countries have shrunk to some extent while Indian investment in Bangladesh's ICT sector in particular has increased.
He said the two countries have agreed to establish 12 hi-tech parks in 12 districts with the credit support of the Indian government.
"The government of India is providing Bangladesh with a credit facility to establish 12 hi-tech parks, of which the development work of eight parks is expected to begin in February," he said.
According to data available with the BHTPA, the IT parks will be established under 'District Level Hi-Tech Park Installation (12 Districts)' project in Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Keraniganj in Dhaka, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman University of Science and Technology in Gopalganj, Comilla Sadar South, Chittagong port, Cox's Bazar, Rangpur, Singra in Natore, Companiganj in Sylhet, Barishal and Khulna.
The specialised labs aimed at imparting training to the youths will be established at six software technology parks, Hi-tech parks and Sheikh Kamal IT Training and Incubation Centers across the country under a joint scheme called Bangladesh Bharot Digital Service and Employment Training (BDSET).
"Training will be provided in modern technologies like Internet of Things, Machine Learning, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Extended Reality and other advanced topics," said Mr Palak.
BHTPA MD Mr Ghosh said that 175 companies have so far been allotted space and plots in the hi-tech parks and 148 local startup companies got working spaces free of cost there.
A total of 22,000 direct employment opportunities have been created through the hi-tech parks in the country's ICT sector, he added.
