By the year 2041, Bangladesh and Japan will work together on the basis of mutual cooperation in various fields of information technology including innovation, research, human resource development, cyber security to build a knowledge-based smart Bangladesh.
A memorandum of cooperation (MOC) was signed in this regard between the governments of Bangladesh and Japan in the large meeting room of the Japanese Prime Minister's Office in the presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio on Wednesday.
State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak and Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Iwama Kiminori signed the MOC on behalf of their respective countries.
Under the Memorandum of Cooperation, based on long-term trustful and reliable relations, Japan will jointly work with Bangladesh in building Smart Bangladesh through partnership and mutual cooperation in the areas of innovation, research, human resource development, digital economy, digital literacy, cyber security, information sharing, fourth industrial revolution technology etc.
The MOC also states that the two countries will cooperate in preventing the growing incidence of cybercrime and exchanging existing cyber security principles and best practice models in this regard and organizing dialogue on current issues of cyber security in addition to human resource capacity building and expert exchange.
When contacted on telephone, in an immediate response, Minister of State for Information and Communication Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak termed the MOC with Japan as a breakthrough in information technology.
He said this agreement will further expand Japan's cooperation in information technology and accelerate our journey to build an affordable, sustainable, intelligent and knowledge-based Smart Bangladesh by 2041.
He said, we have already formulated 'Smart Bangladesh: ICT 2041 Master Plan' through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). As a result of the signing of the cooperation agreement, Japan's cooperation will increase in the adoption and implementation of projects according to this master plan.
Ministers accompanying the Prime Minister, Ministers of State and related officials of both countries were present at this time.