The country’s largest exposition for software and ICT-enabled services — BASIS SoftExpo 2011 — will begin tomorrow in the city with a view to bridging the gap between service providers and users.
About 110 local companies and 10 firms from different European countries will participate at the five-day event scheduled to be held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
Themed ‘Digital Bangladesh in Action’, the fair will pave the way for globally renowned ICT companies to know more about Bangladesh’s growing market, tap outsourcing opportunities and help bring in foreign direct investment into the country’s booming sector, said BASIS President Mahboob Zaman at a press conference at a city hotel yesterday.
Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), the national trade association of software and IT-enabled services industry in the country, is organising the ninth edition of the annual event, in association with the ministry of science and technology and Access to Information (A21) programme of the Prime Minister’s Office.
“It will bridge the gap between service providers and our corporate clients, government offices and individual users,” said the BASIS President. “The exposition will also help popularise the use of ICT in every sphere of life.”
BASIS Vice President AKM Fahim Mashroor said BASIS would arrange an IT job fair on the sidelines of the exposition. Its objective is to create employment opportunities for IT professionals with over 400 BASIS member companies. Face-to-Face interviews will be arranged at the Expo venue, he said.
The event will also feature over 20 seminars on software and ICT related issues along with a number of competitions.
Kazi N Islam, chief executive of GPIT, Martin Labbe, online and digital networks adviser of International Trade Centre, Atiqur Rahman, business development manager of Microsoft Bangladesh, Navid Iqbal, chief technical officer of BRAC Bank, Khonodokar Raihan Hossain, head of sales and marketing of Reve Systems also spoke at the press conference.
BASIS Vice President Farhana A Rahman and Secretary General Forkan Bin Kashem were also present.
The expo will remain open to visitors from 10am to 8pm everyday. The entry fee is Tk 30. Students, however, will enjoy free entry, organisers said.