The dinner in Hotel Sarina in the capital was also co-hosted by Amir Khasru Mahmud Chaudhury, a member of the parliament of Bangladesh. The MoU was signed between Thulasidoss Mohandoss, Sun Microsystems' regional director for government education and health care in South Asia, and A Imran Shauket, country representative of Jobs-Iris. Under the agreement, Jobs-Iris Bangladesh will help increase awareness about the latest Sun technologies among the members of the academia and student-apprentices of Bangladesh and will create opportunities for them to be trained in those.

The event was presided over by State Minister for Education ANM Ehsanul Haque Milan, who in his speech emphasised the importance of having a solid information technology (IT) structure in Bangladesh, along with highlighting how Sun can play a key role in developing an efficient IT human resources base in Bangladesh through its ongoing local training programmes.

"The world currently has a shortage of adroit ICT professionals, and Bangladesh is definitely expected to guarantee a good supply of qualified IT professionals and a related labour force given the proper working environment and nurturing," said Shauket, while emphasising how both local private and public IT industries should take all necessary initiatives for acquiring the elements required for such nurturing to occur in the country. Shauket also mentioned how the focus intends to minimise the gap that exists currently between the local ICT industry and the academia. "We may realize that one given graduate from the most reputed institution may also be taken as if he is not well equipped to face the existing practical ICT picture," he said, referring to how the academia may also need to put a little time in re-designing their course curricula so that the graduates may fulfil the ICT demands of the local industry.

According to a recently conducted survey jointly funded by UNDP and Jobs-Iris, it is anticipated that there will be a worldwide shortage of up to 2 million experts by 2008 in the field of IT profession, including 500,000 in India alone. "If Bangladesh has more educational institutions offering internationally certifiable, industry standard ICT education, it can produce highly skilled ICT professionals, for both domestic and international employment," Shauket continued, "It is estimated that non-resident Bangladeshis (NRB) skilled in ICT can generate over US$1.5 billion in remittance within a decade."

"The target remains simple, we take internationally acclaimed ICT education to all the doors and corners of this nation," Shauket said, stating further how offering internationally recognised certification courses at all polytechnic institutions could easily fill up some of the anticipated ICT workforce shortage.

According to Mohandoss, students today are looking for more than only book-bound education; they are looking for an edge, a usable and user friendly tool. "With Sun technology training, prospective ICT professionals may propel themselves into fulfilling their career goals, which in turn will create a talent pool of well trained ICT professionals benefiting the local economy," he said.

Certificates were also awarded during the MoU signing to SAI instructors who recently participated in a Sun led instructors' training on Java and Solaris technologies. The instructors come from American International University Bangladesh (AIUB), Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), the Directorate of Technical Education under the ministry of education, Feni Computer Institute, Mohila Polytechnic Institute, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (Sust), and University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).

The MoU dinner was preceded by a Univesity Day held from 10:00am till 1:00pm at AIUB auditorium. The event started with speeches by Shauket (Jobs-Iris), Dr Carmen Z Lamagna, vice-chancellor of AIUB, and Mohandoss. Dr Moyeen Khan, minister of science and ICT, presided over the opening ceremony as chief guest.