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Kathmandu Thursday November 08, 2001 Kartik 23, 2058.
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PM Deuba accords top priority
to IT
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Nov 7 - Prime Minister Sher Bahadur
Deuba has said that the government has accorded top priority to information technology
(IT) making it a part of development agenda.
"We have missed the opportunity brought
about by the industrial revolution, but we cannot afford to miss the opportunity brought
about by IT revolution", said PM Deuba.
IT is the only sector in which a land-locked and
mountainous country like ours can excel as it makes geography irrelevant, expressing hope
that IT could help in e-governance in the remote areas of the kingdom, he said.
To bring the potentials closer to reality, the
implications of IT revolution is being carefully studied, he said while inaugurating the
15th Asian Forum for the Standardization of Information Technology (15th AFSIT) amid a
function here today.
The government has made efforts to render IT
accessible to the common masses by deregulating the sector. Unless we can computerize
local language, a commoner cannot make use of the benefit brought about by IT revolution
and he will be deprived of global communication.
"I hope the ongoing meeting of IT experts
and professionals gathered here would make some headway into this direction, which will
help us materializing our goal of making IT accessible to a common man", said Premier
Deuba.
The international gateway has been opened to the
private sector and the government has initiated the process of opening up information and
communication (ICT) to the private sector, with a view to making the services competitive
and efficient, he said.
In order to facilitate the development of ICT,
an IT policy has already been implemented and an IT bill would soon be passed and enacted,
said the prime minister. Deuba also thanked the Japanese Government for sponsoring the
event and AFSIT for choosing Nepal for its 15th meeting.
Minister of State for Science and Technology
Bhakta Bahadur Balayar said that the government has expedited the construction works of an
IT Park in Banepa, some 25 kilometers east of the capital city, and begun the training of
a number of people in different levels of IT.
Rameshananda Vaidya, member of National Planning
Commission (NPC), expressed views that access to IT depends largely on its affordability
and standardization plays a crucial role in making the technology affordable.
The major thrust of IT should be its
accessibility to the common man and the government is making efforts to take it to the
remote villages, he said.
Mahesh Man Shrestha, Secretary at the Ministry
of Science and Technology expressed the views that the theme of the 15th AFSIT -
E-government in Asia: Asian Requirement for Document Standards - is a relevant and timely
issue.
Information economy and economics of knowledge
are gradually dominating the goal economic scene with the rapid emergence of
knowledge-based industry and society in which growth, development, employment and improved
living are becoming more and more dependent on IT, he said.
Akio Kanaya, Executive Director of Centre of the
International Cooperation for Computerization, Japan expressed the views that
documentation of all aspect of culture and languages can help in standardization of IT
products. Stating the e-government is the key issue of the forum, he said infrastructure
development is the basics for It growth.
Allen Tuladhar, CEO, Unlimited and Coordinator
of Committee for Standardization of Nepali in Computers, said that much progress has been
made in the process of developing Devnagari script in Nepali for computerization and
efforts are also being made to develop multi-lingual domain names, which would facilitate
users to read Nepali content in computers from any part of the world.
As all the AFSIT member countries’ first
language is other than English, they are making effort to develop standard fonts in local
language. As the larger section of the population of the countries use local language,
computer penetration would not be effective unless they can use local language in
computers.
Lochan Lal Amatya, President of Computer
Association of Nepal (CAN), Professor Shogo Sakakura, Director General of Japanese
Standard Association (JSA), Japan, Takamichi Okabe, Charge d’Affairs at Embassy of
Japan in Nepal and Professor Dr Shun Ishikazi, Keio University of Japan also spoke on the
occasion. The five-day event is being participated in by 52 IT experts and professionals
from 16 Asian countries.
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