Experts at a seminar said integrated planning and effective execution essential for ICT development.
They also said insufficient infrastructure, lack of policy support, complex credit support, lack of access to finance, shortage of skilled manpower and supportive duty structure are retarding full tapping of the sector.
They made the observation at a seminar on "Reform for ICT Industry Growth" organized by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) at its office on Saturday.
Lutfey Siddiqi, Special Envoy on International Affairs at Chief Adviser office, spoke at the event at a seminar as chief guest while Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), spoke as special guest.
Lutfey said the present government has been working in a changed environment, which needs to be considered by all.
"If the existing policies are properly implemented, it will be easier to do business activities along with rendering citizen services and the current government is giving more priority to these issues," he added.
The BIDA chief referred to a lot of inconsistencies in the central bank's reserve, export statistics and other data, which the current government is now working to address. "It's never possible to formulate a proper plan without proper statistics,"
He said the present government has already set up a number of reform commissions, whose activities are continuing, where citizens from all walks of life, as well as representatives from the private sector in particular, can present their proposals.
BIDA, executive chairman said, IT sector has the potential to be the next RMG sector of Bangladesh. "It's possible to expand domestic and foreign investment in addition to employment generation, especially for young population using this sector," he added.
He said activities are going in BIDA to simplify the permitting process for foreign nationals who are working in the country.
DCCI President Ashraf Ahmed said policy reform, easy access to finance and up-skilling are key to its global market growth which includes IT services, software and devices worth nearly $3 trillion dollars.
"Our IT industry with nearly $2.5 billion of revenue is present in a small segment only despite having one of the largest pools of IT related workers in the world," he added.
