Partnership with private sector essential for IT sector's development: Minister Sharma

By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Feb 8: The Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma said that all three tiers of government must coordinate and collaborate with the private sector for the development of information technology.

Addressing the 29th Federation of Computer Association Nepal (CAN) in Kathmandu, the Minister said that programmes need to be made in a way to attract youths to IT sectors.

Minister Sharma said, “There is a need for extensive collaboration to make the digital economy the main basis of the economy of the country. The government is committed to partnership, coordination and collaboration with the private sector to manage the challenges in the IT sector.” 

She said, “To make the youths skilled in IT in coming days, expand the digital literacy in the government, private, community and school level, conduct a study and research to expand the necessary use of technology and I request CAN for the necessary recommendation.”

Mentioning that it is the priority of the government to digitalize every sector through the implementation of the digital Nepal framework, 2076, she said that big results can be achieved if technology is used in digital infrastructure, agriculture, education, energy, tourism, economy and infrastructure of urbanization. 

Mentioning that the government is moving ahead with the main agenda of good governance, social justice and prosperity, Minister Sharma said, “We are preparing to make 16th national planning based on this idea. The government thinks that the coming fifth-year plan should be a digital transformation.”

Mentioning that the en masse youth are now being active in the field of information technology, she said, “ It is a matter of happiness when we can have confidence that we can contribute to the financial prosperity of the country by exporting the information technology service by retaining youths when a horde of youths are flying in foreign countries. With this, we can compete in the world market through IT and on the other hand we can retain youths by opening new prospects of exporting labour and service”