ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma today said digital connectivity is a rapidly emerging dimension of India-Bangladesh partnership going beyond trade, transport and energy connectivity.

He made the remark when jointly laid the foundation stone of the Knowledge Park at Chattogram being built with Indian government’s concessional Line of Credit, said a press release issued by Indian High Commission here.

The envoy hoped that it would propel economic and technological partnership between the two countries to newer heights.

Highlighting the project’s importance in India-Bangladesh cooperation in ICT sector, Verma also mentioned that the recently launched India-Bangladesh Startup Bridge to connect the Startup communities of India and Bangladesh, as
well as proposals to link digital payment systems of the two countries.

The IT Park at Chattogram is part of the project for establishment of IT/Hi-Tech Parks in 12 districts of Bangladesh under the government of India’s concessional Line of Credit worth nearly US$ 250 million.

The project will also advance the goal of Digital Bangladesh and the vision to transform from Digital to Smart Bangladesh by 2041.

High Commissioner Verma expressed confidence that these IT parks will go a long way in promoting the IT industry and IT-enabled services in Bangladesh by helping in establishing standards, creating hubs and incubation centres,
developing entrepreneurship, and building capacity in new and emerging technologies like Internet of Things, machine learning, robotics, artificial intelligence, extended reality and other advanced and cutting-edge subjects.

The IT Parks will nurture a technologically-skilled workforce that is crucial for rapid growth and development of our economies in the 21st century, he added.

Each Park is expected to generate direct employment for 3,000 people and train over 1,000 people every year.

The direct and indirect benefits from the parks will, therefore, be transformative. It is also notable that this project will involve construction of Green Buildings, which are energy efficient and environmentally friendly. (BSS)