http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/02/08/news0720.htm
Bangladesh has great potential to boost export
Staff Reporter
Bangladesh has a great potential to boost the country’s export using benefit of cheap labour in the perspective of the present worldwide economic recession, as many workers are being terminated in the developed countries due to high cost of labour now, said Industry Minister Dilip Barua yesterday.
He said Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) based Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can create huge employment and enhance productivity of the country.
The Minister said change should be brought in our mind-set and thought adding that scarcity of the resource is not our main obstacle, rather our mind-set is key barrier on the way to development.
“If we bring change in our mind-set, we can win the poverty with limited resources,” the Minister said while he was addressing, as chief guest, expert consulting meeting on “Role of ICT for SME Development in Bangladesh” held at a city hotel yesterday.
SME Foundation organised the meeting chaired by Mirza Nurul Gani Shovan, Member, Board of Directors, SME Foundation.
Jafar Osman, President, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Dr Engr SM Nazrul Islam, President, Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh spoke to the function as special guests.
Dilip Barua said economists and development experts had laid emphasis on balanced distribution of resource and planned industry for enhancing the country’s safetynet.
The Minister cited that they also stressed on curtailing import and increasing local production to meet the domestic demands.
Referring to UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon’s speech, the Minister said ICT have a central role to play in the quest for development, dignity and peace.
Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) specialised training institute of small and medium enterprise and SME Foundation can play significant role in the ICT adoption in SME by taking different skill training programmes on ICTs, he viewed.
Dr M Kaykobad, professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) presented the keynote paper on ‘ICT for SME Development in Bangladesh.’
The keynote paper said ICTs can play vital role to enhance efficiency and productivity in every sphere including in SMEs in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is lagging behind and is skeptical about adopting the ICT even though it promises increase of productivity.
The keynote paper focused potential areas in which ICT can be effective for development of SME. This includes office automation, e-commerce, and application of ICT tools in solving production line problem more efficiently.
Among the key barriers on the adoption way of the ICT for our SMEs are poor communication infrastructure results in limited access and higher costs, most advanced ICT products are designed for large firms and not for SMEs, Limited ICT literacy of SME owners and employees, scarcity of financing and lack of financial and legal infrastructure, the paper said.
