A 12-member high-powered delegation of World Bank led by Geir Haarde today met State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak at the conference room of Information of Communication Division at Agargaon in Dhaka.
During the meeting Palak briefed the delegation about the activities of Digital Bangladesh being implemented in line with its four pillars— development of human resources, connectivity, e-governance and industry promotion.
The state minister said Bangladesh started journey towards digitization following the bottom up approach to reduce digital divide. At the instruction of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the government established over 4500 union digital centres to provide services to the people.
“The villages are being brought under broadband internet connectivity to reach government services to the doorstep of the people,” he said adding 28 Hi-tech parks are being established across the country to create employment and expand IT industry.
Palak said the putting emphasis on three things—digitization, interoperable digital payment platform and interoperable digital framework to improve UN’s e-Government Development Index (EGDI).
The delegation also saw for themselves the operation of Tier-3 Data Centre and activities Cyber Security Incident Response Team (CIRT) and inquired about the promotional activities of IT industries.
The WB financed Leveraging ICT for Growth, Employment and Governance (LICT) Project of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) under ICT Division provided support to expand the Tier-3 Data Centre and form CIRT at BCC. It also financed establishing e-government foundation and carrying out industry promotion activities to enhance growth in ICT sector.
The delegation expressed satisfaction over the successful implementation of different components of ICTD including LICT project which have become national digital assets for Bangladesh.
The delegation members including executive directors. Geir Haarde, DJ Nordquist, Patrizio Pagano, Jorge Chavez Presa, Jean-Claude Tchatchouang, Herve de Villeroche, host directors, Kulaya Tantitemit, Aparna Subramani, Merza Hasan, Alternative executive directors, Gerard Antioch, Nathalie Francken.
Senior officials of ICT Division including senior secretary N M Zeaul Alam, Managing Director of Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority Hosne Ara Begum, Executive Director of BCC Parthapratim Deb, Project Director of LICT Project Md. Rezaul Karim and LICT Component Team Leader Sami Ahmed were present among others.