Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) is to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with two Swiss organisations to undertake content management, marketing and efficient operation of TRADO, a trade platform for the ICT sectors of Bangladesh and Switzerland.

The signing of the agreement with the Swiss Import Promotion Programme (SIPPO) and the Swiss Interactive Media and Software Association (Simsa) is scheduled to take place during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) now being held in Geneva, says a press release.

TRADO was launched in the pilot phase as a platform designed for Jordanian and Swiss IT products and services and later it was expanded with the inclusion of some additional transition countries -- Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Macedonia, Romania and Ukraine.

The TRADO project is based on the principle of public private partnership. The Swiss government covers the cost for the development and maintenance of the platform during the initial two years. The related country's software associations, members of TRADO are in-charge of content management and marketing.