a2i bags WSIS Award
Access to Information (a2i) program under the Prime Minister's Office has once again earned international recognition. The National Information Portal developed by the a2i Program has received the World Summit On information Society Award 2015 under the 'Access to Information and Knowledge' category. A press conference was organized in this regard in the Korobi Hall at the Prime Minister's Office where Md. Abul Kalam Azad, Chief Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office, highlighted key aspects of the National Information Portal.
The Secretary stated that the award was handed over to Bangladeshi delegates in a grand ceremony held at the International Telecom Union HQ in Geneva, Switzerland. a2i project Director and Director General (Admin) of Prime Minister's Office Kabir Bin Anwar, Policy Advisor Aneer Chowdhury and Director (E-service) Dr. Md. Abdul Mannan received the award on behalf of Bangladesh. Mr. Azad further added that in the primary selection for the 3rd category of the WSIS Award 2015, 46 projects from America, China, Germany, Indonesia, Egypt, India, Saudi Arab, Malaysia, Kuwait, Italy and Poland were nominated.
Bangladesh's National Information Portal is one of the largest government portals which connects 25,000 websites and 42,000 government offices. The info portal is playing a significant role in providing various services to the citizens in a short time without any hassle. Services provided by the portal include birth and death registration, utility bill payments, application for passport, tax payments, form downloads and more than 150 other services. The portal has over 20 lakh content including an archive of 45,000 photographs of historically significant sites and archaeological artifacts. Moreover, an E-directory containing profiles of over 7 lakh government officials have also been included in the portal.
It must be mentioned that the WSIS Award is considered a major recognition for contributing in developing the ICT sector. a2i Program had won the WSIS Award last year as well for developing a Digital Center. This year, another project of the a2i Program- Teacher's Portal, was nominated in the 4th category for the WSIS Award.