President urges citizens to get familiar with new inventions

President Abdul Hamid has urged citizens to invent and get familiar with new technologies to keep up with the world. “New inventions in information technology are constantly providing advanced technologies,” he said after inaugurating the Bangladesh ICT Expo in Dhaka on Monday. “We have to invent new technologies and get familiar with their use to progress parallel to the world.” He hoped the forum would open up a world of opportunities for entrepreneurs to help them develop and use the latest technologies. The president said ‘digital Bangladesh’ is no more a dream, but a reality. Bangladesh is one of the South Asian nations to use information technology in its bureaucracy, banking, medical service, trade and commerce, and mass communication, besides its widespread use in education system, he said. “Information technology is now a major instrument for people’s empowerment and poverty reduction. “Services have reached the marginal people with the help of information technology. It has brought about convenience and comfort.” The government’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Department and Bangladesh Computer Samity jointly organised the maiden fair with the theme “Meet Digital Bangladesh”. The organisers aim at making Bangladesh a hardware product manufacturing country. President l Hamid also inaugurated an application on Bangabhaban, the official residence and principal workplace of the Bangladesh President. At the programme, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak shared the government initiatives taken for the sector. “Human resource development is a precursor to Digital Bangladesh,” he said. “We have sketched out a training programme to make 100,000 youth skilled technologists.” He also announced the establishment of specialised computer labs in all the 118 government and private universities, according to a news agency.