ZCZC
BSS-20
PM-ECONOMIC-DIPLOMACY-3 LAST DHAKA
Mentioning that Bangladesh wants to maintain peace in the world, Sheikh Hasina said the country’s armed forces and police have been deployed in the UN peacekeeping missions in many troubled countries and they played a significant role in restoring peace there.
Regarding facing natural calamities due to geographical location, she said Bangladesh is a small area of 54,000sq miles with a huge population and it has to face natural disasters like flood, cyclone and tidal surge regularly alongside manmade disasters.
The government has considered its huge population as resources as Bangladesh doesn’t have many resources, she continued.
About the COVIID-19 pandemic, the premier said her government has taken various measures including declaring a 31-points guideline and various special stimulus packages to offset the impact of the disease on the country’s economy and life and livelihoods of the people.
“We have given the highest importance to food production as the world may experience famine due to the coronavirus,” she said, asking all concerned to take prompt measures for increasing the production of foods so that Bangladesh in no way faces the famine.
Despite taking various measures, the premier said, the government was not able to achieve the desired target of over 8.2 percent growth in the GDP due to the pandemic.
The country has achieved 5.64 percent GDP growth, she said and hoped to achieve much more in the coming days.
The premier said her government has reduced the poverty rate to 20.5 percent from 40 percent, adding, “I want to cut the poverty rate further.”
Sheikh Hasina said they have achieved dignity in the global arena as Bangladesh became independent under the dynamic leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after the Liberation War in 1971.
She, however, said Bangladesh lost its dignity with the assassination of the Father of the Nation along with most of his family members.
The premier said her government has been tirelessly working to materialize the dream of the Father of the Nation as he brought the country’s independence to bring smile on the faces of the distressed people.
“Our promise is to give every man a decent life,” she said, adding that none will remain homeless after the “Mujib Borsha” marking the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation.
BSS/AHJ/GA/1725 hrs