State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said that digital Nano-loans are a landmark step towards building a cashless society in the country. Mentioning that Bangladesh has been able to reach the top position in the world in the software industry, he said that an open national "Artificial Intelligence" (AI) platform will be created to showcase its capabilities in the global context.
The state minister was speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function of digital loan service "Digital Nano Loan" joint venture between Citibank and Bkash at Hotel Sheraton on Wednesday.
Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank Abu Farah Md Naser, Chairman of Citibank Aziz Al Qaiser, Managing Director and CEO of Citibank Masroor Arefin and CEO of BKash Kamal Qadir among others spoke on the occasion.
State Minister said that authorities are already applying Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Robotics, Machine Learning. Government want to support Bangladesh Bank, development and banking and other service sectors through open AI platform.
Read more: Technology increases production, reduces cost
The state minister said the Covid-19 epidemic has hampered many developed, prosperous and modern nations of the world to keep their education, healthcare, commercial, administrative and judicial activities running while Bangladesh has been able to keep everything including education, health, agriculture and judiciary functioning. This has been possible in the last 21 months due to the courage, honesty and foresight of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the implementation of Digital Bangladesh. The benefits of Digital Bangladesh have been extended to 170 million people in the country. "We are celebrating the golden jubilee of independence and the birth centenary of Bangabandhu at a time when Bangladesh has become a role model for the world," he said. Bangladesh has established itself as a dignified middle income digital country.
Later, the state minister inaugurated the "Digital Nano Loan".
