Saturday, April 20, 2024
Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar said that to keep up with the needs of the digital age, conventional businesses will need to be transformed into digital commerce in due time.
The minister made the remark at a virtual event titled "Eid Adda" organised by the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) on Thursday night.
The digital age will be the age of a cashless society. The civilisation that depends too much on paper is on the verge of extinction. In the future, there will be no such thing as paper due to natural and technical reasons, he said.
Mentioning that there's no alternative to acquiring digital skills to meet the challenges of the digital age, Mustafa Jabbar said that it's also crucial to take integrated initiatives to develop digital commerce as a commercial sector.
“My own experience is that trade organisations play a vital role in shaping any sector,” he said, emphasising Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS) 's initiative to revolutionise the development of computer technology in the country.
Through the efforts of BCS which only consisted of 36 members, computers were made easily available to the public through the repeal of VAT on computers in 1998-99, said Mustafa Jabbar, a former president of BCS.
The minister, who was one of the patrons and advisors of founding e-CAB, also called upon e-CAB to play a significant role as a commerce platform.
commerce. But especially during the coronavirus pandemic, you have shown that even a cattle market can be conducted online," he said.
Describing e-CAB as a pioneer in the transformation of digital commerce in the country, the Minister said that e-CAB should be more diligent in ensuring that consumers are not deceived in any way.
"Criminals will commit crimes wherever there is an opportunity - in every case. And it applies to sellers as well as buyers. So, digital crime has to be tackled with digital technology," he remarked.
"The more digitally skilled one is, the more successful the business will be."
The minister called upon e-CAB to take initiatives to enhance the skills of its members through training. He stressed the need to strengthen e-cab organisationally.
"Nowadays trade organisations only form a central committee in Dhaka and fail to spread the sector's activities across the country. BCS has proved the necessity of branch committees.
Now the IT business is not only Dhaka-centric - so there has to be a nationwide trade body organisation. He called upon e-CAB to build an organisational structure and activate them up to the division, district or upazila level.
e-CAB President Shomi Kaiser presided over and General Secretary Muhammad Abdul Wahed Tomal anchored the event. e-CAB officials participating in the event discussed various topics related to e-cab and digital commerce.
