OAV hosts Bangladesh’ State Minister of Information and Communication Technology

The Honourable State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP who heads the ICT Division of the Ministry of Post, Telecommunications & Information Technology in Bangladesh, visited Hamburg on the occasion of the “Ostasiatische Liebesmahl” from 23 to 25 March 2017.

During his stay, the Honourable State Minister gave a keynote speech at an event organised by the OAV and the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and met with German corporate representatives of the ICT sector during a luncheon.

During the annual “Talent Pool Asia” conference on the topic “Digitalisation: Connecting Multicultural Teams across Germany and Asia” at the premises of Google Germany GmbH, H.E. Zunaid Ahmed Palak held a presentation on the development of his country’s ICT sector during the past years:

With a large number of highly skilled IT professionals, Bangladesh represents one of the fastest growing technology markets in South- and Southeast Asia. The government is committed to establishing Digital Bangladesh by 2021, making the IT industry the topmost revenue earner for the country in the near future. To achieve these goals, the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority is in the process of developing the appropriate infrastructure and skilled manpower needed to facilitate the business environment in the IT sector. Currently Bangladesh has about 300,000 IT professionals working at more than 1,000 software and IT service companies, of which about 200 specialise in serving overseas clients. 

The event was followed by a luncheon with the Honourable State Minister and the ambassadors of both countries, during which selected German participants from the ICT sector had the opportunity to get a further insight into the ICT sector of Bangladesh and to discuss possible areas of cooperation.

The OAV is currently looking into the possibility of organising an ICT delegation to Bangladesh in the second half of 2017. For further information, please contact Barbara Schmidt-Ajayi, Regional Manager South Asia.