State Minister of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Mr. Junaid Ahmed Palak has said that Block Chain can be one of the investment sectors in Bangladesh. On 6th October he made the remarks at a press conference on "International Block chain Olympiad (IBCOL-2021)" to be held in Dhaka from October 8 at the BCC Auditorium of ICT Tower in Agargaon, Dhaka. Junaid Ahmed Palak said, "Startups in our country are having a lot of success and have brought in over 500 million foreign investments in the last five years."

Palak said universities and educational institutions need to come forward to encourage block chain and include block chain in their curriculum. We are going to set up more than 5,000 new Sheikh Russell Digital Labs so that the teenagers of this country can know about a futuristic technology like block chain.

He further said that a state-of-the-art Sheikh Russell Digital Lab is being set up in the country to empower the present and future generations of children and adolescents in future technology. The country has already set up 8,000 "Sheikh Russell Digital Labs". More 5,000 Labs and 300 "Schools of the Future" are being set up. There are also plans to set up 10,000 more "Sheikh Russell Digital Labs" in the future and another 5,000 Sheikh Russell Digital Labs at an early stage. Through which millions of students are being educated in information technology.

"We want to build a middle-income country in 2031, a high-middle-income country in 2031 and a developed Bangladesh in 2041," Palak said. The specific target set by the people's leader Sheikh Hasina is that now the GDP size of 350 billion dollars will be 700 billion dollars in 2031 and 1 trillion dollars in 2041. Now beside the income from our garment industry, the income of our expatriate workers, agriculture and all the other labor-dependent industries, Sheikh Hasina wants to build a knowledge-based society and a technology-based economy. And we have far-reaching plans for all of this. And as part of that plan, we chose "block chain technology."

Mentioning that digital Bangladesh is no longer a dream, the state minister said, 160 million people are now able to enjoy the benefits of Digital Bangladesh. In the last 12 years, the four pillars of the "ICT sector" have stood on a solid foundation under the leadership of Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the Prime Minister's Adviser on ICT. Around 1.5 million young people across the country are contributing to the ICT industry by working in the software, hardware and BPO sectors. In the last 12 years, it has been possible to create employment for 1.5 million young people, while the ICT industry, which was only 26 million Dollars before 12 years, has now grown to 1.3 billion Dollars.

Connected online, the president of the Hong Kong Block chain Society, Doctor Lawrence Ma thanked Bangladesh for successfully hosting the International Block chain Olympiad (IBCOL). He hopes that through this arrangement, it is possible to find advanced technological solutions through the use of block chain technology. Founded on 2012, block chain wallet is the world's most popular wallet with over 53M created in 180 countries.

Other guests were present at the press conference including the Executive Director and Additional Secretary of the Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) Md. Abdul Mannan, PAA, Additional Secretary of the Department of Information and Communication Technology Khandaker Azizul Islam, BRAC University CSE Department’s Professor Mohammad Kaikobad, Chairman of International Block chain Olympiad 2021” and Founder and CEO of Technohaven Company Limited Habibullah N Karim.

Twelve winning teams of "Blockchain Olympiad Bangladesh 2021" are participating in this year's Bangladesh episode organized under the theme "Inspirational Empowerment and Innovation". The International Blockchain Olympiad (IBCOL) is specially organized every year for the younger generation. The much-anticipated Olympiad, which started in Hong Kong, is going to be held in Bangladesh for the first time outside Hong Kong. Students from all over the world are participating in this global competition to become winners. Prizes worth a total of more than 40,000 Dollars have been awarded to the winners. Many national and international block chain experts will join the event as judges and speakers. More than 50 teams from 12 countries are participating in this global competition from China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Philippines, UAE, Iran, Indonesia, Netherlands, Nepal, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The "International Blockchain Olympiad 2021" will kick off with an inaugural ceremony on Friday (8th October 2021). The 3-day Olympiad will run until Sunday (October 10). This year, besides other events, a total of 4 seminars are being organized. Seminars will be on “CBDC and Cryptocurrency”, “e-Governance”, “Identity and Privacy” and “FinTech”. Seminars with programs will be open to all participants and visitors from around the world at IBCOL's website. For more details please visit the official website https://ibcol2021.com.

Thanks,

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