Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Minister of State for Information and Communication Technology in Bangladesh, had a meeting with the officials of Digital Development and related officials at the World Bank Head Office in Washington DC, USA. Digital Development Practice Manager Vaijayanti Desai, Senior Digital Development Specialist Jerome Beziner and other senior officials of the branch were present on the occasion.
The Minister of State for ICT said in a statement on his verified Facebook that the points they discussed in the meeting were, enhancing the government cloud through the Enhancing Digital Government and Economy (EDGE) project implemented by the ICT department, funded by World Bank; providing cloud services to all government digital platforms; setting up of research and innovation center through creating partnership between tech-universities and industries.
The state minister further added the points he discussed were, creating a Digital Leadership Academy to train 10,000 government officials and 5,000 managers during the project period; provide specialized training on cyber security, and help us achieve $ 5 billion in IT and ITES sector by 2025. The project also aims to develop the local ICT industry. The project also enables us to enhance our capabilities in digital applications such as Alapon, Boithok, e-marketplace, creation of national job portals and artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security, semiconductor design and robotics. The state minister said there was a detailed discussion on encouraging startups by providing incentives.