Telecom Arabiya 2005

The show kicked off in the Bahrain capital of Manama and ran up to March 23 on the occasion of the 3rd Asian IT ministers' summit in the gulf kingdom.

The minister for science and ICT, Abdul Moin Khan, led a government delegation at the summit, while a team of private sector ICT leaders have also joined the show with an array of Bangladeshi ICT products and services.

For the first time, the country's three leading ICT associations- Bangladesh Computer Samity, Bangladesh Association for Software and Information Services (BASIS) and the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh, jointly participated in the mega show abroad.

The show will give local software developers a wider scope for establishing new contacts and exploring market in the Gulf States.

The software industry has recorded more than 122 per cent growth rate in the first six months (July-December, 2004) of the current fiscal year (FY 04/05) with export worth $5.29 million, according to latest statistics of the Bangladesh Bank.

More than 50 local software and IT service companies are currently exporting their services to 30 countries.