He emphasised public-private partnership to tackle cyber issues.

Masud was speaking at the first substantive session of the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) on developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security at the UNHQs in New York on Tuesday.

He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, at a side-event during the high-level week of the UNGA in September 2018, pledged “Bangladesh’s support for promoting a culture of cyber security at the UN and beyond ... [and] demonstrate strong political resolve to create a secure, stable, peaceful, inclusive and accessible cyber space for our future generations”.

Highlighting that Bangladesh targets to have at least 1,000 cyber security experts by 2021, Masud said: “We need enhanced capacities in areas of defending cyber-attacks, creating awareness, and developing reliable early-warning systems through information sharing across governments and major tech firms.”

He stressed the need for constant engagements for sharing best practices in those areas.

The ambassador said ICT is playing a critical role in Bangladesh’s journey towards sustainable development and fulfilling Prime Minister Hasina’s dream to turn Bangladesh into a digitally advanced middle-income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041.

He said Bangladesh is now offering over a hundred important public services to its citizens through One-stop Digital Centres in the rural areas.

Earlier, in a side event jointly organised by Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Ghana, Singapore and Bangladesh on UN’s efforts to promote stability in cyberspace at the Permanent Mission of Germany, Ambassador Masud elaborated on some of the key priorities of Bangladesh in the works of the OEWG.

The General Assembly approved the OEWG on Developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security on December 5 last year under its resolution 73/27.