The government in association with the private sector is set to organise an exposition next month at a cost of Tk 12 crore to showcase the progress Bangladesh's IT industry has made to the rest of the world.

“Bangladesh is now ready in every aspect of the ICT ecosystem,” said Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for ICT, in a press conference yesterday at the Janata Software Technology Park in Dhaka.

Called the Digital World, the four-day event is now in its fifth year. In last year's edition of the exposition, about Tk 70 crore worth of work orders were received.

The ICT industry will certainly get more orders this year as more foreign companies will take part, Palak said.

So far, 162 companies including Google, Facebook, Motorola, Qualcomm have signed up for the exposition, which will kick off in Dhaka on December 6 with the slogan 'Ready for Tomorrow'.

“We along with our gigantic skilled human resources and world-class infrastructure will go together with our heart and soul to cope with the fourth industrial revolution,” said Palak.

The government has established 28 software parks across the country and cut down the tax on equipment to 1 percent from 25 percent. The ICT industry is also enjoying huge tax benefits.

“We will present this before the foreign companies so that they are tempted to invest here,” said the state minister.

The organisers -- the ICT Division and the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services -- are expected about 400 exhibitors from home and abroad and 5 lakh visitors.

The event will take place at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre and will be open from 10am to 8pm every day.

At the venue there will be nine zones: software showcase, e-governance, e-commerce, gaming, experiencing, start-ups, mobile innovation, made-in-Bangladesh and international zone.

Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Congo and the Maldives are expected to attend the event.

ICT Secretary Subir Kishore Choudhury and BASIS Senior Vice-President Russell T Ahmed were also present at the media briefing.