Information Technology in govt priority: Minister Sharma

Kathmandu: Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, has said the government had prioritized the IT sector, considering its potential. 

Minister Sharma said it while inaugurating the 2nd general convention and 3rd annual general meeting of Nepal Mobile Entrepreneurs' Federation here today. She informed that the budget the government presented for the coming fiscal year had also incorporated the IT sector with much priority. 

"Nepal has a huge potential for IT and the country can be developed as an IT hub," she added.

According to her, foreign investors had also shown interest in IT and development during the recent investment summit. For the protection of entrepreneurs, policies friendly to trade and entrepreneurship are essential, Sharma reminded.     

Also the spokesperson of the government, Minister Sharma shared that efforts were on to correct tax policies to clear bottlenecks. She also made it clear that the government would not retract its decision to launch a mobile device management system (MDMS). It would be launched though late, she insisted.     

On the occasion, the President of the Mobile Phone Importers' Association Nepal, Dipak Malhotra, asked the stakeholders to unite to address the problems in the mobile phone business and argued that the businesspersons were at the receiving end for lack of non-implementation of MDMS and imports of mobile phones illegally.     

Likewise, the President of the Federation Bharat Bhattarai echoed Malhotra and claimed that the Federation was working to control the exodus of youths to foreign countries.

Established some four and a half years ago, the Federation has 70 district committees in all seven provinces, and around 22,000 businesspeople are affiliated with it, creating almost 100,000 direct jobs, Federation's General Secretary Ramesh Kumar Ghimire said.