State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat said on Friday the Awami League (AL) government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, believes in balanced and sustainable development.
He was addressing the opening ceremony of the two-day international conference on leadership, technology and trends Infocom Dhaka 2024 at a city hotel here.
The conference was organised by ABP Group of India in association with SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, The Daily Star, ISACA Dhaka Chapter and JCI Bangladesh.
Speaking as the chief guest, Arafat said no development can be helpful for mankind, if it is not sustainable. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government gave importance to sustainable development, he added.
"We don merely believe in development but believe in balanced and sustainable development. To this end, Bangladesh has done better than many countries in most of the indicators in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals announced by United Nations," he said.
This proves that how much importance the Sheikh Hasinas government gives to sustainable development, he said. The state minister said technology is rapidly changeable but the thing is that whether the changing technology is contributing to positive development in the society or not.
"This is considerable whether it improves the peoples lifestyle or cause harm to them. We are now greatly dependent on technology. So the risks posed by technology have become an issue of really big concern for us," he said.
Even, Arafat said, these risks put the collective existence of human society at stake. "But we finally do believe that the positive aspects of technology will advance the human civilisation," he added. The minister said the government is now thinking to make the changes sustainable which are happening through the development of technology.
If the outcome of changing something through technology is positive, it is very important to make it sustainable," he added. He lauded the present government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, for establishing Digital Bangladesh.
In the world of technology, Arafat said: "If we don have adequate preparation in data protection, then we won have sovereignty in this regard. Therefore, it is very urgent to rethink about the concerned issues including data management". —BSS
