Bangladesh is set to enter the laptop export market as its leading electronics giant Walton has signed an agreement on exporting the ‘Made in Bangladesh’ labelled ones in Nigeria.
The deal was signed with Nigerian company Western Base Nig. Ltd. at the conference room of the Ministry of Finance at the Secretariat in the Dhaka city on Wednesday.
Chairman of Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited SM Rezaul Alam and Director of Western Base Nig. Ltd. David Nwune inked the export deal on behalf of their respective companies.
Chairman of Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited SM Shamsul Alam also attended the event.
Initially, Walton will export 500 laptops to Nigeria, one of the economically enriched countries in the African region, it said in a statement.
It is the first company in the country to be exporting locally made laptops.
Walton celebrated this at the conference room the same day.
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith was part of the event as the chief guest.
Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Mustafa Jabbar and State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak were there as special guests.
Greeting Walton on booming the local electronics manufacturing industry by utilising the government’s policy supports, Muhith said Walton could be a role model to other entrepreneurs.
The bold initiative of Walton in setting up the country’s first-ever computer manufacturing industry paved the way for Bangladesh in emerging as a laptop exporting country, he said.
The exporting of the ‘Made in Bangladesh’ labelled Walton laptops to Nigeria will expedite the boom of local ICT industry, the finance minister believed.
Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar sees the realisation of Prime Minister’s Sheikh Hasina’s dream in the laptop export.
She had a dream that someday laptop computer would be manufactured in Bangladesh and the ‘Made in Bangladesh’ labelled laptop computer would be exported to different countries of the world, he said.
Today, Walton made her dream come true through starting export of its locally made world-class laptops, Jabbar said.
Palak said the success of Walton in manufacturing international standard hi-tech products in Bangladesh would be a role model to other local and international companies.
“Walton is now performing a partnership role in establishing ‘Digital Bangladesh,” Palak said.
Apart from Nigeria, Walton has already received an export order from Nepal.
The shipment of the local brand labelled laptops to Nepal will be placed very soon. In addition, the procedure of exporting locally made laptops to Bhutan and East Timor are also in the final stage.
Walton officially inaugurated the country’s first-ever computer manufacturing unit at Walton Digi-Tech Industries in Chandra, Gazipur on January 18, 2018.
