Kathmandu, January 29

A two-day International ICT Conference with the theme of ‘ICT for Sustainable Development’ kicked off in the Capital today. The ICT conference is being organised by CAN Federation as part of the ongoing CAN InfoTech.

Inaugurating the ICT Conference, Minister for Information and Communications Surendra Karki, acknowledged that ICT has a bigger role to play in the development process without affecting the environment and the entire ecosystem. He also informed that the government is ready to put ICT usage under high priority while making strategies and plans in every development activity of the country.

“As ICT is a must for development, we should boost IT entrepreneurship in country. I urge the private sector to come up with a draft of suggestions on what the government needs to do to develop IT entrepreneurship in the country and strengthen the entire ICT industry,” Karki said.  He also mentioned that ICT and development process are inter-linked and they should go hand in hand.

Addressing the occasion, Binod Dhakal, president of CAN Federation, said that ICT development in Nepal is poor as the government does not have a clear vision on ways to develop the sector. “CAN Federation has been striving alone to achieve its target of e-Nepal. We want the government to support us and keep ICT under priority for the development of entire ICT industry,” he said.

As per CAN Federation, the conference also witnessed paper presentations from different foreign IT experts on issues related to ICT.

Meanwhile, CAN Federation has said 207,058 visitors have visited ongoing CAN InfoTech till the fourth day. The six-day event will conclude on Tuesday.

Issuing a press statement, CAN Federation said visitors are basically attracted to 4G service of Nepal Telecom and lucrative offers being provided by internet service providers in the exhibition.