JETRO keen to work with ICT Division, says president

Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) is keen to collaborate with the ICT Division to explore opportunities from Japanese IT sectors and provide support to local startups ‍aimed at building Smart Bangladesh.

President of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Kazushige Nobutani, said this during a meeting with State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak on Wednesday at the conference room of the ICT Division.

“Japan is an important development partner of Bangladesh and JETRO is ready to work together with the ICT Division to flourish startup, innovation and research,” said Nobutani.

Mentioning Japan as one of the largest development partners of Bangladesh, ICT State Minister Palak said, the government under the visionary and prudent leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already implemented Digital Bangladesh. She wanted to transform Bangladesh into a Smart Bangladesh by 2041.

Seeking cooperation from Japan to provide support in the field of startups, innovations and research, the ICT State Minister proposed holding an IT Summit and exchanging 50 startups- 25 from Bangladesh and 25 from Japan—to mark the 50 years of diplomatic relations. The Japanese delegates welcomed the proposal.

Palak expressed gratitude to the government of Japan for providing support in various sectors including the implementation of metrorail, Matarbari deep seaport, and power projects and sought cooperation in building a Bangladesh-Japan University.

Earlier managing director of Startup Bangladesh, Sami Ahmed presented a PowerPoint on `Building an Inclusive and Resilient Smart Bangladesh.

In his presentation he said, the government has already developed a Smart Bangladesh Master Plan that proposed the implementation of more than 40 projects in line with four pillars- citizen government, smart government, smart economy and smart society.

ICT Senior Secretary N M Zeaul Alam also spoke at the function which was attended by Executive Director of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) Ranajit Kumar, Managing Director of Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority Dr Bikarna Kumar Ghose, Project Director of Enhancing Digital Government and Economy (EDGE) Dr Muhammed Mehedi Hassan and Executive Director of IDE-JETRO Mayumi Murayama, Director General of JETRO Satoshi Kubota, Assistant Manager of IDE-JETRO Yurika Nagamine and others.