An artificial intelligence (AI) based data analysis system is being set up to keep the supply of the country’s important and sensitive goods stable, the commerce minister, Khandaker Abdul Muktadir, has said. Various ministries and agencies are currently working on sensitive goods in agriculture, food, industry and other sectors, he said. An integrated system of management needs to be built by analysing which of these goods are produced locally, which depend on imports and which involve a mix of domestic production and imports.
He made the remarks in his address as chief guest at a meeting on e-commerce implementation held in the conference room of the commerce ministry on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by the commerce ministry secretary, Md Ataur Rahman Khan.
The commerce minister said supply shortages are often one of the causes of price rises in the market. Preparations must be made in advance so that a sudden supply gap does not open up when a problem arises at the source of production or import of a commodity. Whether the government will reduce a price rise through subsidy is a separate matter, he said, but the main aim is to ensure that instability is not created in the market by a halt in supply.
He said local production, seasonal shortfalls, the international market situation and the production capacity of exporting countries need to be analysed regularly for pulses, onions and other agricultural goods.
Giving an example, the commerce minister said that if there is a likelihood of low pulse production in the country in a given year, preparations must be made before the crop is harvested. At the same time the production situation and export capacity of the countries from which goods are imported must be taken into account.
He said: “We need to know when a shortage of which commodity may arise, from which country it would be best to import and when, and in which market the price will be comparatively favourable.”
Setting out the need for an effective artificial intelligence platform for this purpose, he said the system will help in taking decisions quickly by analysing 10 years of market data, production, imports and exports and the international market situation.
He said meetings currently have to be held between various ministries to collect and analyse information of this kind, and decisions take a long time. Once an AI-based system is in place, the necessary analysis can be obtained within a few minutes.
The commerce minister said that at one time an inter-ministerial meeting had to be held to obtain a single piece of information, and reaching a decision through discussion took hours. AI will be able to analyse 10 years of data and set out the likely situation within a few minutes.
He said the AI system will be able to give advance warning of when a shortage of which commodity may arise, from which country it will be advantageous to import, how much export capacity each country has, and when buying will bring market advantage.
The commerce minister said the initiative will make it possible to keep the supply of important goods stable throughout the year.
He said the commerce ministry will not run the programme alone. It will be carried out jointly with all the relevant ministries and agencies, including agriculture and food. Agencies taking part will have access to the necessary data.
He added that ensuring reliable sources of data is essential to increasing the effectiveness of AI technology. A rich database will be built using international open-source and subscription-based data sources alongside government data.
The commerce minister said that although developing the system will take time at first, after a few stages it will be able to provide analysis faster and more effectively than people can.
He said the main purpose of the initiative is to build the capacity to take decisions on the basis of fast and accurate information. It will strengthen the country’s market management and protect consumers’ interests.
The meeting also discussed the development of the e-commerce sector, technology-based market management and future work plans.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report