A call on meeting between Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh and BASIS was held on Sunday, 20 March 2022 at the European Union Delegation Office, Dhaka. The Ambassador, Head of Delegation, Mr. Charles Whiteley expressed interest in collaborating with BASIS for exploring the ICT-related opportunities between the European Union region and Bangladesh.
The Ambassador was very receptive and keen to deeply interact on all matters of mutual interest. Mentioning digital governance as a priority in coming years, he also emphasized the capacity building and advanced ICT literacy of private and public sectors to reach the country ICT development goals in timely manner. The Ambassador appreciated progress of Bangladesh’s ICT sector at the frontier technologies and economic transformation of the country. The EU Ambassador also mentioned that there were untapped areas of cooperation where many of the member countries of EU might be able to collaborate on rendering technical support like renewable energy, skills development, up-skilling and re-skilling, some special programmes for high tech jobs etc.
BASIS President Russell T. Ahmed said that Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared ICT as ‘The Product of the Year’ for the year 2022. Aligning with that, BASIS has started working to excel the ICT industry further focusing on seven pillars: make human resources future-proof, develop local industry, develop foreign markets, increase access to capital & fiscal incentives, create a thriving ecosystem for startups, formulate policies to help grow intangible assets and promote the industry. BASIS is also aiming to reach US$ 5 billion by 2024, he added. He also mentioned, certainly, digital governance success stories of such projects that we have implemented in Bangladesh and some neighboring countries can be promoted to the EU countries as those offer global standard solutions but at an efficient price tag.
The meeting was also participated by Second Secretary of the EU Delegation Mr. Koen Everaert, Trade Advisor Mr. Abu Syed Belal, BASIS Director Mr. Ahmedul Islam BABU, Director Mr. Tanvir Hossain Khan, Joint Secretary Mr. Enamul Hafiz Latifee, and Assistant Manager (Trade Facilitation) Ms. Nadia Tabassum among others.