‘Made in Bangladesh’ Strategy on the cards

The government is devising a `Made in Bangladesh Strategy’ for the ICT sector for creating large-scale jobs and opening up a window of opportunities to enter the job market by nearly half a million students who secured graduation each year, said officials concerned. They said the Leveraging ICT for Growth and Employment of the IT-ITES Industry Project (LICT) of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) under ICT division has prepared a draft focusing, especially on purchasing locally-made digital devices, software and IT-ITES services by the government.
“Made in Bangladesh Strategy is being introduced with an ultimate goal to formulate `Made in Bangladesh Policy’ to create large-scale employment opportunities, especially for the 5 lakh students who secured graduation each year,” said State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak. He said the strategy for the ICT sector will help expand the country’s ICT industry and create large-scale jobs at a time when the government is preparing to face the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution.
“The strategy will not only help brand Bangladeshi ICT products abroad, but also awaken patriotism among people to buy locally-made products,” Palak added.
 ICT Secretary NM Zeaul Alam said in the journey towards implementation of Digital Bangladesh the government has created an ICT ecosystem to flourish the ICT sector.
“The strategy will create an opportunity to procure locally-made products, including digital devices and software by the government. The local industries are producing quality software and exporting to over 85 countries,” he said.
Executive Director of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) Parthapratim Deb said they have been taking opinions of stakeholders, including experts, industry leaders and academia, through holding workshops to improve the strategy. More workshops will be held in this regard before finalising the strategy, he added.
IT-ITES Policy Adviser of LICT Project Sami Ahmed said the experts, industry leaders and academia have already put forward a few suggestions at a meeting held at the conference room of LICT last week, and the strategy is expected to be finalised within a couple of months.