Chinese envoy foresees brighter prospect in ICT cooperation  

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming on Wednesday said there are much brighter prospects for both countries for a win-win cooperation in ICT. 

"I am confident that the two countries will enjoy more favourable opportunities for cooperation in ICT," he also said at the Huawei ICT Incubator 2022 programme in a city hotel. 

In recent years, Chinese enterprises have expanded their investments in Bangladesh's infrastructure, science and technology sectors, among which, ICT is one of the most remarkable and promising ones, he noted.

China and Bangladesh are important strategic partners of cooperation with each other and share extensive and in-depth cooperation and common interests in various fields, he continued.

China has been Bangladesh's largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years since 2010 and stands as a top source of FDI.  

"In our ICT cooperation field, the issue of high-end technical talents is obviously of vital importance. I believe that Bangladesh has adequate human resources, in particular, technical talents, which are crucial to the sustainable, healthy and rapid development of Bangladesh," he also said.

Stating that a talent ecosystem is indispensable for the development of ICT in any economy, he said, "It calls for our urgent attention." 

Li Jiming said it is encouraging to see that in Bangladesh, stakeholders from both private and public sectors nowadays are joining hands to develop such a digital talent ecosystem.

The dividends of a talent ecosystem are on the way, and Huawei ICT Incubator is obviously the most updated practice and one of the best examples in this case, he noted.

Li Jiming said as a global ICT leader and a long-term partner of the Bangladesh ICT industry, Huawei serves well as a bridge for ICT cooperation and exchange between China and Bangladesh. 

This very programme, ICT Incubator by Huawei, can play an excellent role for such collaborations and initiatives that will help bring out prospective start-up entrepreneurs and ICT talents in Bangladesh, he also said.

Huawei announces six startups as the winners of the Huawei ICT Incubator 2022 programme. The winners will get seed money as the award in addition to the opportunity to meet global startups for knowledge sharing.  

The announcement came in a gala event held at Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel on Wednesday. 

Leading global ICT infrastructure provider Huawei organised the event with the cooperation of the strategic partners Startup Bangladesh Limited and Innovation Design and Entrepreneurship Academy (iDEA).

The competition has two groups, namely, the Idea Stage and the Early Stage. 

The winners of the Idea Stage and the Early Stage, respectively, are Insure Cow (Champion), Durjoy DSS (first runners up), and Relaxy (second runners up); and Jahaji Ltd. (champion), Palki (first runners up), and We Gro Technologies Ltd (second Runners up).

An independent jury panel, comprising iDEA project, Huawei Bangladesh, Startup Bangladesh and other renowned leaders of the startup ecosystem of Bangladesh, selected the winners. The guests of the gala event announced winners' names at the event.

State minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak graced the event as the chief guest. 

Vice-chancellor of Brac University Vincent Chang, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Pan Junfeng, Managing Director of Startup Bangladesh Sami Ahmed, Md Altaf Hossain, project director (Joint Secretary), iDEA Project, ICT Division were also present. 

Zunaid Ahmed Palak said, "From a startup, in just 35 years, Huawei has become a huge company. This can be an inspiration to follow for startups. Under the prudent leadership of our Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the PM's ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, we have successfully realised the Digital Bangladesh vision by 2021, riding on the four pillars of Digital Bangladesh."