The roundtable bought together the Leaders of Nordic Business Community and representatives of Nordic Embassies to discuss the achievements, future challenges, highlight bottlenecks and expectations of Digital Bangladesh strategy and to understand how they may contribute towards this vision. NCCI invited Mr. Anir Chowdhury, Policy Adviser of Access to Information (A2I) Programme in Prime Miniter’s Office (PMO), as the keynote speaker.

The session commenced with a brief presentation on Digital Bangladesh by Mr. Anir Chowdhury. The concept of Digital Bangladesh can be referred to the use of modern technology and ICT to achieve the desired objectives for the development of Bangladesh. This digital revolution will improve the quality of services and increase accountability, transparency and efficiency of Government. The main objective has been to use ICT for improving delivery of services to citizens. NCCI members were given an overview on the basic components and pillars of Digital Bangladesh strategy. The Government, in 2008, published a “Charter for Change” that identified poverty, human resource development, employment, health and power & energy as key areas. To materialize the vision of Digital Bangladesh, the main areas of focus are Change of Government’s Mindset, Demonstration and Up scaling, ICT Infrastructure and Development, Leadership Development, Planning and Coordination, and Execution through Partnership. The members were also presented the targets the Government wishes to achieve by 2021 along with the key enablers. Mr. Chowdhury also highlighted the importance of innovation in his presentation.

In the latter part of the presentation, Mr. Anir Chowdhury discussed the role of Digital Bangladesh Programme in simplifying business regulations and reduced cost of doing business in Bangladesh. He highlighted the achievements of Digital Bangladesh with respect to G2B services in the form of business registration in Registrar of Joint Stock Companies (RJSC), Custom Clearance (Dhaka & Chittagong Custom House), Stock Exchange (Dhaka & Chittagong), Import and Export license (Dhaka EPZ), Investment registration and tracking with Board of Investment (BOI), Work permit (BOI) and Tax filing with National Board of Revenue (NBR).

The presentation was followed by a roundtable discussion between NCCI members, Nordic Embassy Representatives and Keynote Speaker on present initiatives, the key growth enablers, challenges ahead and the problems businesses face frequently. The event was graced by His Excellency, Svend Olling, Ambassador of Denmark, who provided an insight on key areas where development is needed to achieve the targets of Digital Bangladesh. During the session, it was also discussed how Nordic countries can support the implementation of the vision of Digital Bangladesh.

The roundtable discussion concluded with a brief review of Chamber’s half yearly activities by NCCI Executive Director.