DHAKA: The government has given approval the draft of National Information and Communication Technology Policy-2015 keeping the specific work plan to enhance the standard of public services.

The approval came a regular meeting of the cabinet held at secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair on Monday.

After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan disclosed the matter to reporters.

He said the policy was placed for cabinet approval on March 11, 2011 making up-to-date on basis of ICT policy formulated in 2009 after consultation with stakeholders related to the ICT sector and holding inter-ministerial meeting.

Some specific guidelines to run the country’s ICT sector were included in the draft policy.

The cabinet secretary said large scale use of ICT will be one of the main strategies to make Bangladesh a middle income country by 2021 and developed country by 2041. 

The policy contained some guidelines on how ICT will use, what process will be applied, who will do what kind of duties and fixed some work plan and timeframe.

The national ICT Policy-2015 has clearly indicated the ICT development goals. Of those, short-term plan will be implemented by 2016, mid-term plan by 2018 and long-term plan by 2021.

The policy is structured as a hierarchical pyramid with vision, 10 broad objectives, 56 strategic themes and 306 action items.

Mentioning that the policy has set a vision, he said it will play a pivotal role to expand and diversify the use of ICTs to establish a transparent, responsive and accountable government, develop skilled human resources, enhance social equity, ensure cost-effective delivery of citizen-services through public-private partnerships, and support the national goal of becoming a middle-income country within 2021 and join the ranks of the developed countries of the world within thirty years.

The cabinet hopes that the policy will assist the government in implementing its vision.

BDST: 1300 HRS, FEB 02, 2015