The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) has expressed interest in working with the ICT Division on innovation and startup development. JETRO President Kazushige Nobutani expressed his optimism in a meeting organized on the occasion of celebrating 50 years of friendship between Bangladesh and Japan at the meeting room of the Information and Communication Technology Division on Wednesday.
Calling for continued cooperation in the development of Bangladesh’s information technology sector, he said JETRO will work together with the Bangladesh government to explore the potential and opportunities of Japan’s IT sector, support local startups, organize joint webinars and seminars, and organize visits of Japanese delegations to Bangladesh and organize events in Japan. These activities will basically be helpful for building Smart Bangladesh.
Mentioning Japan as an important development partner of Bangladesh, ICT State Minister Palak said, after the successful implementation of Digital Bangladesh under the visionary and prudent leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we have started working towards building Smart Bangladesh. Japan has cooperated in various sectors including metro rail, Matarbari deep sea port, and power. He expressed hope that the Japanese government will extend its hand of cooperation in the establishment of Japan-Bangladesh University in the future.
Mentioning the special importance of the government on startups, innovation and research in building Smart Bangladesh, Palak proposed to exchange 25 Bangladeshi startups and 25 Japanese startups for a total of 50 startups, including organizing an IT summit on the occasion of 50 years of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Japan. Welcoming this proposal from the side of Japan, it is said that business relations between Japanese and Bangladeshi businessmen will be developed through the Bangladesh IT Connect-Japan portal.
Expressing Japan’s commitment to support startups in Bangladesh, Kazushije said that they will discuss with startup Bangladesh and help in the development of startups in Bangladesh.
Earlier, Sami Ahmed, Managing Director of Startup Bangladesh, presented a power point titled ‘Building an Inclusive and Resilient Smart Bangladesh’. He said that according to the Smart Bangladesh Master Plan, the government is going to undertake more than 40 necessary projects in the light of its four pillars – Smart Citizen, Smart Government, Smart Economy and Smart Society. Japan can cooperate in the implementation of these projects. The government is aiming to create five unicorn startups by 2025.
The Senior Secretary of Information and Communication Technology Department NM Zeaul Alam; Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) Ranjit Kumar; Managing Director of Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority Dr. Bikarn Kumar Ghosh; Enhancing Digital Government and Economy (EDGE) project director. On behalf of Muhammad Mehdi Hasan, JETRO Executive Vice-President Maiyumi Murayama, JETRO DG Satoshi Kubota, JETRO Resident Representative Yoji Ando and JETRO Senior Director Shariful Alam were present on the occasion.
The Japanese delegation visited iDEA Project, a2i Project and Digital Literacy Agency.
