The advisory council of the interim government on Tuesday gave its final nod to the draft of the 'Cyber Security Ordinance, 2024', aiming at providing a robust legal structure for addressing cyber security issues in Bangladesh.
The approval was given at a meeting of the council held at the office of Chief Adviser with Chief Adviser Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus in the chair, according to a Cabinet Division statement.
The council also gave its approval to the proposals for establishing the 'July Uprising Memorial Museum' at Ganabhaban, which was the official residence of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, and promotion of 764 retired officers with retrospective effect for implementing the recommendations of the committee constituted to alleviate the problems of retired government officials who were deprived of promotion.
While briefing after the meeting on the issue, CA's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said, "The government is trying to secure cyberspace for everyone. The draft 'Cyber Security Ordinance' has already been finalised. The advisory council has given its clearance on the draft."
The council has approved the Cyber Security Ordinance with vetting of the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division under the Law Ministry.
The Information and Communication Technology Division presented the ordinance before the council.
Earlier on December 12, the council in principle granted approval to the draft of the Cyber Security Ordinance 2024.
According to the council decision, the Cultural Affairs Ministry will implement the project of establishing the July Uprising Memorial Museum at Ganabhaban.
Regarding the promotion of the deprived retired officials, the press secretary said the council has approved the proposal to implement the recommendations of the committee. The Ministry of Public Administration and Finance Division will take necessary action in this regard keeping the Cabinet Division informed.
He said the committee's recommendations regarding the officials deprived of promotion were discussed in the advisers' meeting.
"It has been decided to recommend promotions of 764 officers including 119 to secretary and 41 to Grade-1 officials. For this, the government might have to incur a one-time expenditure of Tk 42 crore and Tk 4 crore per year during the pension period," he said.
Speaking about Sheikh Hasina's extradition from India, he said, "Work has begun on [extraditing] Sheikh Hasina. The government is prioritising this. She established a tyranny. In this case, it is the responsibility of the government to inform who else was with Sheikh Hasina."
On law-and-order situations, he said there have been many reports on these, which state that murder, mugging and robbery have increased in the country.
"Many journalists are misunderstanding these. About 250 to 300 murders occur in the country every month. Last September there were 283 murder cases," he said, urging to exercising caution while looking at the statistics at this time.
The press secretary said the interim government is trying to improve bilateral trade with South Korea.
"The government is hopeful that South Korea will very soon become a new market for Bangladesh," he said, adding that South Korea's loan interest rate is very low.
Stating that the Chinese foreign adviser had a meeting with Chief Adviser Yunus in New York, Shafiul said they discussed whether a solar panel manufacturing facility could be built in Bangladesh or not.
He also said many investors are coming to Bangladesh in view of that discussion.
