[July 21, 2009] India, Bangladesh could partner development of complex ICT products: Kalam; Borderless interaction presupposes inculcating spirit of borderless-ness in education, says the ex-Indian President Tweet Dhaka, Jul 20, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- Visiting former Indian President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Monday expressed his hope that India and Bangladesh would work together to become partners in the development of complex ICT products by devising interconnecting mechanisms. ?When I see all of them (people of various countries) working together like one family without any barrier of the culture from which they came or the language that they speak, I will not be surprised if India and Bangladesh become partners in the development of complex ICT products,? he said. The ex-president of India observed that ?the only hope for such borderless interaction to continue is to inculcate the spirit of borderless-ness in our education also?. Dr Kalam, as convocation speaker, was addressing the first convocation of the University of Information Technology and Sciences (UITS) held at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center in the afternoon. President Zillur Rahman attended the convocation as the chief guest while adviser to the Prime Minister Dr Gowher Rizvi was present as special guest. Sufi Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, Chairman of the board of directors of UITS, also spoke on the occasion. To underpin his suggestion for trans-border interaction, the noted nuclear scientist narrated his experience of travel by an aircraft in the United States. He said many of its controls were software-driven and most probably developed in India and his credit card was being processed in the backend server located in Mauritius. ?When I walked into IBM software-development centre, Bangalore, I was fascinated to find that it truly presented a multicultural environment,? he said to cite another instance. Dr Kalam mentioned another cycle of cross-pollination: a software developer from China working under the guidance of a project leader from Korea working with a software engineer from India, a hardware architect from the USA, the communication expert from Germany all working together to solve a banking problem in Australia. He said synthesis of knowledge from different fields of human progress of humanity. It means the unity of minds has to use the strong convergence of technologies and other faculties to bring a better future for humanity without any consideration of geographical or other borders. Emphasizing science and technology education, the scholarly scientist said in the last century, most nations understood that science and technology was the best vehicle for economic uplift. He said humanity is devoting more and more attention to climate change, energy, water, disease-free world, economic turbulence and terrorism etc., which are all of concern to the entire world and the solutions for which are beyond any individual nations or group of nations. About education Dr Kalam said: ?If higher education is the nursery of tomorrow?s leaders, then the universities bear profound responsibilities to create a sustainable future. This implies that graduates of every discipline from the universities need a sound working knowledge about sustainability?, through their education in the university campuses. He further told the convocation gathering that the aims of the universities are to provide the education needed for sustainable economic growth of the country through a tripartite relationship between university, industry and research institution in the country and abroad. Describing a prosperous nation, peaceful nation that can be actuated only through vision for the nation, he said the vision for the nation gets evolved depending on the core competence and the current status of the nation. ?Only vision for the nation ignites the youth of the nation and the rest of the population.? Dr Kalam observed that irrespective of the political party which governs the nation, the vision for the nation forms the foundation for the growth of the nation in the fastest period. Referring to his learning on leadership, Dr Kalam said leader must have a vision and a passion to transform the vision into action. The leader must be able to travel into an unexplored path and he must know how to manage a success and failure. ?Leader must have courage to take decision, have nobility in management,? he said, adding that every action of the leader should be transparent and the leader must work with integrity and succeed with integrity. He said for success in all the missions of a nation, it is essential to have creative leaders. ?Creative leadership means exercising the vision to change the traditional role from the commander to the coach, manager to mentor, from director to delegator and from one who demands respect to one who facilitates self-respect.? Meanwhile, Dr Kalam delivered a lecture on 'Capacity Building for National Development' at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of Dhaka University in the afternoon. DU Vice-chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique chaired the session. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]