Minister Sharma insists on cooperation for achieving IT Decade goals

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma has stated that the incumbent government has been aggressively working to put in place policies and structural arrangements for the development of information technology (IT).

At the Digital Nepal Conclave 2024 organized by ICT Foundation Nepal here today, Minister Sharma assured that significant achievements were being made in the areas of formulating ICT-related bills and developing physical infrastructures.

Stating that the government declared the upcoming decade as the “Information Technology Decade” from the new fiscal year 2024/25 in the newly unveiled budget, she informed that the government aimed to directly generate at least 500,000 jobs and a million indirect jobs through the operation of IT workstations all over the country. Acknowledging the legal hurdles for the development of the IT sector, the Minister shared that the government was considering legal and policy-level reforms for the same.

“Cyber Security Centre has been established for the first time in the country. IT Policy has been endorsed. The government is making efforts to push forward the IT Bill at the earliest,” Minister Sharma, also the Spokesperson of the Government, said.

Furthermore, she explained that the newly unveiled policies, programs, and budget included IT-related issues after holding consultations with private sectors and opined that the goals related to IT could be achieved through collaboration with the private sector.

The government and private sector should work hand in hand to achieve the Information Technology Decade’s goals, she stressed. Stating that IT was considered the basis for economic prosperity, the Communications Minister mentioned that the government considered increasing investment in this sector.

She clarified that optimization of IT had contributed to maintaining good governance and prosperity, adding that the Nepal Telecommunications Company had expanded high-speed internet in 76 districts of the country. High-speed internet has been installed and expanded in all districts except Mugu, according to the Minister.

“The government is committed to uplifting the living standards of the general people and achieving socio-economic prosperity through the implementation of the Digital Nepal Framework,” the Minister reaffirmed.

In the one-day event, over 600 participants, national and international, comprising ICT experts, government representatives, entrepreneurs, and academicians, among others, would discuss various dynamics of the digital capability for digitizing Nepal.

Moreover, the thematic experts will provide recommendations to the concerned government bodies to chart a strategic roadmap to further digitize Nepal.