President: Focus on research, creation of basic knowledge in IT

GBNEWS24 DESK//

He made the call while delivering his speech after the Inauguration of Digital World 2020 in Dhaka.

Bangladesh is now providing software and IT services to about 60 countries including America, a number of European nations, Canada, and Australia.

President Hamid said that IT exports have grown from 26 million to over 1 billion since 2009. It is expected that by 2024, this revenue will exceed Tk 5 billion and the contribution of software and ICT services to GDP will increase to 5 percent, reports UNB.

Mentioning freelancing as a new dimension to empowering the younger generation, the President said that although job opportunities in other sectors are currently declining, freelancing has created employment for many young people.

Bangladesh ranks second in the world in terms of the number of freelancers.

“At present, there are 600,000 active freelancers in the country. However, in the freelancing profession, men, as well as women, need to be proactive so that they can move forward on an equal footing,” he said.

President Hamid said that although the Coronavirus epidemic temporarily hampered our development and progress, it did not stop it because of the successful implementation of the ‘Digital Bangladesh’ initiative of the government.

Today, people are sitting at home reaping the benefits of the visionary commitment made by the present government in 2009 to turn Bangladesh into a middle-income country and build a knowledge-based society through the implementation of Digital Bangladesh, he said.