It is a great honor and privilege for the Ministry of Lands of Bangladesh to receive the WSIS Prize. This recognition will inspire us to work better.
Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury responded this while addressing, after receiving the WSIS Prize for the Digital Land (Development) Tax System, an event organized by various UN agencies, including the ITU, at the Popov Conference Hall of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday, May 31 2022, (Yesterday) at 6:00 pm local time (Bangladesh time at 10:00 pm).
ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao handed over the WSIS Prize trophy to the Land Minister. Land Secretary Md. Mostafizur Rahman PAA was present at the event.
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury further said that the journey to today’s position was not an easy one. At one point, the whole land service management system in Bangladesh was in chaos. When the present government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, came to power in 2009, for the first time, a plan for land service digitization was adopted in order to overcome this situation. Today, we have become part of the digital system after overcoming various challenges.
Winning the WSIS Prize has given us now rather more responsibilities on our shoulders to do more and more for the people and the country.
It is to be noted that the Digital Land Tax System of the Ministry of Land wins the prize as the best project/initiative in category 7 namely “ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life – E-government” of the prestigious WSIS Prize competition. WSIS Prizes are given in 18 categories.
leaders across the world, ministers, senior government officials, civil society representatives, academia, the private sector representatives, and representatives from international and regional organizations, including the United Nations, and prize winners attended the ceremony.