Digital ID to become cornerstone of government services: Rehan Asad

A single digital identity will become the main means of accessing various government services in Bangladesh, said Prime Minister’s Adviser on Telecommunications and ICT Rehan Asif Asad.

The government is working to build an AI-powered Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to achieve this goal, he said.

Speaking at a high-level side event at the United Nations in New York, Asad said Bangladesh had already begun developing the system and planned to launch it within the next 18 to 24 months.

“We want to implement the best and safest DPI and digital ID in the world,” Asad said.

The event, jointly organised on Tuesday by the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), brought together ministers and senior officials from different countries and regions to discuss the development and management of DPI.

Bangladesh was the only country from the Asia-Pacific region represented on the panel.

Asad said Bangladesh had started developing its digital ID and broader DPI infrastructure by learning from best practices and experiences from different countries.

“We have started this journey. It will take time; there are no shortcuts. But we are building the foundation for our future,” he said.

The event also discussed how DPIs in different countries could be made interoperable, particularly how such systems could work across national borders. Another key topic was the relationship between AI and DPI, including how AI could support DPI and how DPI could provide the foundation for AI-powered services.

As part of its efforts to develop its own DPI infrastructure, Bangladesh is also working with Estonia’s X-Road, Asad said.

X-Road is considered an important model for securely exchanging information among different government systems.

The event also highlighted initiatives in various countries. Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, for example, are jointly working on cross-border digital systems. Rwanda, meanwhile, is taking initiatives to use digital IDs for accessing government services and verifying identities across borders in East Africa.

The European Union is also moving towards introducing interoperable digital identity wallets. Each member state will launch at least one wallet based on common EU standards. Through these wallets, citizens will be able to securely verify their identities and share digital documents and identity-related information outside their home countries.

According to Asad, Rwanda’s initiative aims to reduce the need for citizens to visit government offices for services such as obtaining birth certificates and other documents. At the same time, regional interoperability would allow citizens of one country to use their digital identities in another country.

The event also discussed security, privacy and trust in the use of DPI, as well as how AI could safely support the use of such infrastructure.

The UN’s broader DPI security initiative aims to address security, privacy and governance risks while developing digital systems on a large scale.

Asad said DPI and digital IDs would play an important role in delivering government services worldwide in the future.

“The key point is that this is not just about Bangladesh or the Asia-Pacific. In the future, DPI and digital ID will become the centre of government services,” he said.