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Bangladesh has slipped four notches down to 119th position in the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI) that measures the position of a country in terms of provision of online services, telecommunication connectivity and human capacity.
Despite a downward move in ranking of 193 countries, Bangladesh has scored 0.5189 in the index that is higher than 0.4862 secured in the 2018 edition of the EGDI, according to the report.
The United Nations (UN) has unveiled the latest edition of the biannual report titled 'E-Government Survey 2020: Digital Government in the Decade of Action for Sustainable Development'.
The report also lauded Bangladesh's achievement for enhancing its online connectivity and digital literacy.
"In Bangladesh, success in advancing the country's e-government development has largely derived from strengthening the online connectivity of the public sector, online service delivery and investments in the digital literacy of public sector employees," the report added.
It said Bangladesh in recent years has worked on unifying 46,000 virtual government offices and providing information and government services nimbly and efficiently.
"Bangladesh has also invested in developing e-literacy and ICT skills among public sector employees and providing continuous learning opportunities through government-created open-learning-platform training in digital and professional skills."
By 2020, nearly all employees of the central government had access to the Internet and could use ICT tools in their daily work, the report said, adding that Bangladesh operates an exclusive portal to educate teenagers in science and technology to further expand digital literacy within the country.
The publication mentioned that Bangladesh adopted the national 'Digital Bangladesh' strategy in 2009, which aims to transform the country into a digitally developed nation by 2021 through ICT integration in support of good governance, law enforcement, employment and growth.
Among the least developed countries, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Cambodia have become leaders in digital government development, advancing from the middle to the high E-Government Development Index (EGDI) group in 2020, according to the report.
When contacted, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar told the FE that he doesn't believe the Bangladesh's position in the list can move downward.
"There is no scope for lagging behind in the index as Bangladesh has now become model for many countries," he said.
Whatever scoring method had been applied for preparing the list, Bangladesh's achievement in use of technology for governance is marvellous, said Mr Jabbar, also a noted IT entrepreneur.
"You see our e-mutation system has been awarded recently, there are many achievements like this."
The minister, however, stressed the need for further technology adoption by government officials at all levels to establish a more effective e-government ecosystem.
In the UN report, Denmark tops the list, followed by the Republic of Korea, Estonia, Finland, Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the United States of America and the Netherlands.
Among neighbouring nations, India has been ranked 100th, Pakistan 153rd, Sri Lanka 85th, Nepal 132nd, Bhutan103rd and Afghanistan 169th in the tally while African country South Sudan has been ranked the bottom position on the list.
Bangladesh ranked 124th, 148th and 150th in the surveys done in 2016, 2014 and 2012 respectively, according to the UN data.