The four-day BASIS SoftExpo 2023 will begin on February 23 at Bangabandhu Bangladesh China Friendship Exhibition Center in the capital's Purbachal.  Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) is organising the exhibition to showcase the latest technology innovations and ICT capabilities of Bangladesh to the world.  A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between BASIS and Huawei recently in this connection.  BASIS President Russell T. Ahmed said: "We are now moving towards achieving the Smart Bangladesh goal. We are hopeful that BASIS SoftExpo 2023 will play a significant role in achieving this goal and take Bangladesh a step ahead in digitalisation."  "Huawei has achieved the leading position in the ICT field worldwide. We are delighted to partner with them." Alex Li, vice-president of Cloud Business Group of Huawei South Asia, said: "Huawei will stand with Bangladesh in achieving the Smart Bangladesh goal as it did in fulfilling the dream of Digital Bangladesh. We have partnered with BASIS with the same vision and we will showcase our latest software and solutions at this SoftExpo."  Besides the inaugurating and closing events of BASIS SoftExpo 2023, there will be some special programs such as B2B matchmaking, ambassadors' night, outsourcing conference, startup conference, developers' conference, ministerial conference, ICT career camp/youth program, women in IT program and Japan Day program.  More than 800 corporate executives are expected to attend the "Business Leaders Meet." Also, more than 23 seminars and technical sessions will be held. About three lakh visitors including government and private policymakers, about 200 national and international speakers, IT experts, IT sector businessmen, foreign delegations, domestic and foreign IT users and interested young students are expected to visit BASIS SoftExpo 2023.  Read more: 7th international electric expo begins on March 9 in Dhaka    

State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak on Sunday said the participation of young entrepreneurs in F-commerce (Facebook commerce) is on the rise significantly. “At least 400,000 new entrepreneurs are engaged in F-commerce. Bangladesh Bank is going to arrange small loans at 4 percent interest for the entrepreneurs who are engaged in F-commerce and Startup business,” he said at a virtual conference. Also read: Govt planning to formulate data privacy protection law: Palak The e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) arranged the virtual conference on Rural to Global E-commerce Policy Conference. LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Tazul Islam inaugurated the event. Palak also highlighted different initiatives taken by the government for e-commerce and its entrepreneurs in the first session of the conference.  The LGRD minister said people are choosing e-commerce to sell and purchase goods, from food to luxurious products. “Though it (e-commerce) began small, now a sort of dependency (on e-commerce) has been created,” he said. Also read: Palak unveils software to bridge jobseekers with disabilities ... Addressing the function, Senior Secretary of Commerce Ministry Dr Jafar Uddin said the commerce ministry has formed a digital commerce cell to implement the digital commerce policy. “The work is on to finalise the digital commerce operation guidelines 2021. We keep the matter of inclusion of social media commerce entrepreneurs in the guideline under the consideration of the Commerce Ministry,” he said.  Chief executive officer of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI) Obaidul Azam, deputy governor of Bangladesh Abu Farah Md Nasser and Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) Syed Almas Kabir, among others, spoke at the conference presided over by e-CAB president Shomi Kaiser, said a press release. Read Startup Bangladesh Ltd to invest Tk 100 crore for 50 startups marking birth centennial of Bangabandhu and Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been filed to bridge the gap between the ICT Industries of Bangladesh and Malaysia to explore and develop the opportunities on Saturday.