DHAKA: State minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) division Zunaid Ahmed Palak on Thursday categorically said Bangladesh will emerge as the top country in earning from outsourcing by 2021.

The state minister also said the government has fixed USD 1 billion to earn from the ICT sector by 2018 and in relation to that, trained 55,000 people for outsourcing.

He made the observations in the general discussion on national budget of 2015-16 fiscal year at Jatiya Sangsad in the morning.

The state minister further said to the House that foreigners know Bangladesh as a labor-dependent country.

“This is why incumbent government is working to set an example in the development of ICT sector by employing country’s youth,” he added.

Palak also informed the House that the number of mobile phone user is some 12.47-crore, which is 81 percent of total population, and out of them 4.42-crore subscribers use internet.

Besides, the government has set up 4,547 union digital centers (UDC) and 387 pourasabha digital centers (PDC) across the country.

“A total of 5,275 IT digital centers were established around the country and so far seven lakhs IT professionals were made in past seven years,” he added.

The state minister further said that currently 1,000 local IT firms are working for domestic and foreign clients.

According to him, the government has taken decisions to build gradually an IT park in each divisional headquarters and a hi-tech park at each district town.

BDST: 1456 HRS, JUN 25, 2015
SR/RR/SMS