UNESCAP launches new IT initiative for Myanmar

BANGKOK, January 29 (TNA) - The Bangkok-based United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) has announced a new initiative of Myanmar President U Thein Sein to create jobs for young people and investment opportunities in Myanmar’s information technology (IT) sector. The presidential initiative was announced at the Second Myanmar Development Cooperation Forum, organized by UNESCAP, in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar's capital, on Tuesday. According to a UNESCAP press release, the first phase of the initiative, called the Information Technology Capacity Development Programme, which is a collaboration between UNESCAP, Infosys, an Indian multinational provider of business consulting, information technology (IT), software engineering and outsourcing services, and the Indian and Myanmar governments, will see 25 outstanding IT engineers and entrepreneurs from Myanmar undergoing 12 weeks of intensive training in India in core competencies of software development, which, in turn, will prepare them to work in any major e-government initiative or global IT firms operating in Myanmar. Addressing the forum, UNESCAP Executive Secretary Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, who is also UN Under-Secretary-General, said that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pointed to the need for job creation, poverty alleviation and greater development assistance to Myanmar during his historic 2012 address to the UN Assembly. Dr. Heyzer noted that UNESCAP has, therefore, worked closely with the Myanmar government to strengthen the capacity of Myanmar small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to help meet the challenges, especially through the empowerment of women and youth. According to UNESCAP Executive Secretary, the joint one million US-dollar programme will not only help Myanmar and its nationals, particularly the youth, leapfrog into the global knowledge economy and build up their cutting-edge skills and competitiveness, but it will also assist Myanmar to more fully integrate with the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and gradually move out from the world's least-developed-countries (LDC) category by 2020. (TNA)