27 Nov, Kathmandu:

Minister for Information and Communications Technology, Sherdhan Rai, has said that the incumbent government was active to take the country towards the path of economic prosperity by increasing the use of information technologies.

Minister Rai said so while inaugurating a three-day conference on ‘Financial Inclusion and Payment Systems Security’ jointly organised by Information Technology Security Emergency Response Team Nepal (TSERT-NP) with the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Nepal Rastra Bank here today.

He said that it was necessary to take the country towards the path of economic prosperity by keeping abreast with information technologies for delivery of reliable, safe and smooth services.

Stating that the Ministry was committed to make the rules and regulations timely by promoting the maximum use of IT, Minister Rai clarified that he was involved to promote the use of IT across the country.

He further said that the Ministry has adopted a policy to moving ahead by consulting with experts of the bodies concerned to make rules and regulations including Electricity Business Act timely, saying the Ministry has given high-priority to the issues including policy related to Information and Communications Technology, its effective implementation and prioritization.

Minister Rai said, “Study is to be carried out regarding whether or not the Electricity Business Act is suitable in this context. The Ministry is studying collaborating with the private sector to formulate the appropriate law.”

The Communications Minister said that the government has also given equal importance and priority to IT related physical infrastructure development.

The current age is IT age, he said expressing the belief that the country should linked with modern technology and should not miss the chance to take maximum benefits from this.

The Information and Communication Technology Minister said that it has paved the way to the government, its bodies, private sectors, civil society and non-government offices to move ahead towards the economic development along with security, transparency, accountability and good governance by keeping the development of the country in centre as a basis of nation building has been created with the promulgation of new constitution.

Similarly, Acting Secretary at the Ministry, Kabiraj Khanal, said that the ‘broadband’ would be extended in every places of the country within few years as the Ministry has been carrying out necessary works with a target of developing and promoting IT in all areas of the country.

Likewise, Director General at the Department of Information Technology, Birendra Kumar Mishra, said that use of IT was on in a different way and it was indispensible to adopt IT security measures.

It was shared in the conference that 194 banks and financial institutions across the country have been providing withdrawal service through 3,400 branches while 1.5 million people have saving accounts. RSS