Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on Wednesday said Bangladesh is one of the leading countries in the world in piloting digital programme.
“We’ve started our journey a bit late in this regard, but now it seems to me that Bangladesh is a leading country in piloting the ICT programme as there are very few countries in the world, which have made so much progress in this sector,” he said.
The Finance Minister was addressing the inaugural session of the Digital Bangladesh Day-2018 held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
Muhith also gave credit and extended his heartfelt gratitude to the youth-folk of the country since they have been working in various aspects of ICT over the last 10 years to materialise the goal of building Digital Bangladesh.
Former Post and Telecommunications and ICT Minister Mustafa Jabbar, former Science and Technology Architect Minister Yeafesh Osman, Post and Telecommunications Ministry Secretary Shyam Sunder Sikder and Director General of the Department of ICT AKM Khairul Alam, among others, spoke on the occasion with ICT Division Secretary Zuena Aziz in the chair.
At the inaugural session, the ICT Division handed over the Digital Bangladesh Award-2018 to PM’s ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Ahmed Joy, Finance Minister AMA Muhith, PM’s Political Affairs Adviser HT Imam, Mustafa Jabbar, Yeafesh Osman and AL leader Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin for their contributions to building Digital Bangladesh and thus helps materialise the Vision 2021.
The ministry Officials received the award on behalf of Sajeeb Wazed Ahmed, HT Imam and Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin as they were not present.
Besides, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and Walton Bangladesh were also awarded the Digital Bangladesh-2018 Award for their contributions to their respective fields.
Speaking on the occasion, Mustafa Jabbar said Bangladesh has transformed into Digital Bangladesh over the last 10 years due to the farsightedness steps taken by the Awami League government, steered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He said if the present Awami League government gets another term for running the state and it will move forward the ongoing initiatives and Bangladesh will be on the right path towards becoming a developed country.
Yeafesh Osman said the country has not transformed into ‘Digital Bangladesh’ overnight, rather it was materialised in a concerted and speedy way.
The government had focused equally on the urban and rural areas to build ‘Digital Bangladesh’ while there was no digital divide, he said.
Earlier, Muhith unveiled a logo and released a commemorative postage stamp of Taka 10, a first day cover of Taka 10, and a Taka 5 data card using a special canceller, marking the Digital Bangladesh Day.
The government observed the ‘Digital Bangladesh Day’ today aiming to make its Digital Bangladesh concept memorable.
The theme of the day is ‘Digital Bangladesh will be Bangabandhu’s Sonar Bangla’.
Earlier, on November 27, the cabinet decided to observe December 12 as the National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Day.
The government, however, issued a notification on December 6, saying that from this year, the December 12 will be observed as the ‘Digital Bangladesh Day’ instead of the National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Day.
Marking the day, the ICT Division has chalked out daylong elaborate programmes.
The programmes include giving citations to the Digital Bangladesh Award winners, RoboWar and puzzle game shows, discussions, seminar, prize giving ceremony, and essay and painting competition.
The essay and painting competition is being held at upazila and district levels across the country.
