DHAKA: Bangladesh’s junior minister for ICT, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, said that country aims to quadruple its earnings from information, communication and technology (ICT) exports to $1 billion (664 million pounds) by 2019.
He said “Our export earnings from this sector was only $20 million in 2009 which is now more than $250 million”.
The ministry with help from the World Bank will train 30,000 information technology professionals over the next three years to help achieve this target.
The minister said that Bangladesh would be able to raise its export earnings from the sector to $5.0 billion in 2021 when the country will have become a middle-income country, and in 2041 the figure could rise to $50 billion.
A.K. Azad Chowdhury, chairman of the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh, noted that to help achieve this target the government had waived taxes on the computer industry.
