DHAKA: Bangladesh aims to raise its export earnings from the information and communications technology (ICT) sector to $5 billion in 2021, said Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Junior Minister for ICT division of the Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology.

He told Reuters the country earned $800 million from the sector last year and that this will reach $1bn for the fiscal year ending next June.

European countries, the United States, Canada, Russia and India are among the main buyers for the sector, he said.

To showcase the sector to other countries, the ministry is organising a four-day exposition and conference from Dec 6. He said 162 organisations from around the world would be involved.

“To develop the sector along with the policy support, the government is also providing a 10 per cent cash incentive and 100pc tax exemption facility,” the minister said.

He said that to achieve the target the ministry is working to develop human resources and has been carrying out training for young people and collaborating with academic institutions.

“We have also focused on better production and developing infrastructure,” he said.

He said that in view of the country’s rapid economic growth the ministry was also working to train up cyber security experts.

“The size of the economy is $246bn, the growth of economy is more than 7pc for the last couple of years, so we need to focus on cyber security, he said.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2017