by Naim-Ul-Karim
DHAKA, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's tech guru on Wednesday hailed China's global navigation constellation achievement with the successful launch of a final BeiDou satellite.
Bangladeshi Post and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar told Xinhua that China has shown remarkable strides in various fields including science and technology, which could serve as a good example for Bangladesh and other countries.
"Congratulations on the successful launching of China's last satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS)," said the minister.
The minister is best known for being the creator of Bijoy, which is a simple and easy-to-use software for typing in Bangla language. He pioneered the Bijoy Bengali Keyboard, the first Bengali keyboard in 1988, which is still a widely used Bengali input method around the world.
China launched the last satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Tuesday, marking the completion of the deployment of its own global navigation system.
The satellite, the 55th in the family of BeiDou that means "Big Dipper" in Chinese, was successfully put into orbit by a Long March-3B carrier rocket, according to the launch center.
With reference to China's transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy, the minister said the country made brilliant achievements in scientific and technological development.
"We'll consider cooperation with the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS)," he said as the BDS-3 system offers countries and regions along the Belt and Road as well as the world basic navigation service.
Meanwhile, the minister said Bangladesh is in process for launching the country's second communication satellite "Bangabandhu-2" following the successful placement of the first one in 2018.
May 12, 2018 was a red-letter day for Bangladesh when the country ushered in a new era by launching its first "Bangabandhu-1" satellite.
The launch made Bangladesh the 57th nation in the world and fourth in South Asia after India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to own a satellite.
As China has been actively encouraging the cooperation and exchanges between the BDS system and other navigation systems in fields, the minister said this is an opportunity for other countries and regions around the world.
"Every country has the right to develop its own navigation system," he said, adding that the Bangladeshi government attaches utmost importance to providing digital technologies into all spheres of public life in the country.
"Digital Bangladesh" is a major goal of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government for the country, and special emphasis is given on the application of digital technologies to realize an ICT based modern nation by 2021. Enditem
