National

Development messages must reach people through Internet: Speaker

Parliamentary speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury on Thursday said the Internet services must be expanded to reach the messages of development to the peoples doorsteps as Bangladesh aimed to earn the status of the middle income nation by 2021."The digitization campaign will have to be accelerated to reach the messages of development to the 16 crore people of the country through the Internet," she told the opening of a "street paint" on the Manik Mia Avenue highlighting the importance and benefits of Internet.The street painting on the Internet was staged to mark the launching of the Internet Week 2015 to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on September 5.The speaker said there was no alternative to the promotion of Information Communication Technology (ICT) as Bangladesh expected to find its seat in the club of developed nations by 2041.The speaker expected the entire Bangladesh to be linked with Internet connections within a short period to build the "golden Bengal" as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) division, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) and Grameenphone organized the function.State Minister for ICT division of Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology ministry Zunaid Ahmed Palak, secretary Shyam Sunder Sikder and President of BASIS Shameem Ahsan also addressed the opening of the function.