PM Hasina
PM Hasina distributes Sheikh Kamal sports award to 10 people, 2 orgs
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday handed over the prestigious Sheikh Kamal National Sports Council (NSC) Award-2023 to 10 sports personalities and two organisations in eight categories in recognition of outstanding contribution to sports.
She distributed the awards among the winners on the occasion of the 74th birth anniversary of Shaheed captain Sheikh Kamal, the eldest son of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Ministry of Youth and Sports and National Sports Council (NSC) organised the programme at the city's Osmani Memorial Auditorium.Abdus Sadek, the legendary hockey player and the first captain of Bangladesh national hockey team, was nominated for the lifetime achievement award.
PM’s grand rally in Rangpur: 10 km radius around venue turns into a human sea
Women's football team captain Sabina Khatun, cricketer Taskin Ahmed and South Asian gold medal winner weightlifter Ziaur Islam got the award in sportsman category.
Table Tennis player Muhtasin Ahmed Hriday and hockey player Amirul Islam received emerging athlete award while grassroots hockey organiser Ustad Fazlu and Kalsindur Govt. School and College's principal Mala Rani Sarker got the awards in sports organiser.
Khandakar Tarqk M Nurullah got sports journalist award.
PM releases special stamp marking 74th birth anniversary of Sheikh Kamal
Bangladesh Archery Federation received the sports association/ federation/ organisation award while Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) got the sports sponsor award.
Besides, the ministry, for the first time, included sports commentator category in the Sheikh Kamal NSC award. Former national cricketer and cricket commentator Atahar Ali Khan was adorned with the sports commentator award.
Each of the awardees will receive Taka one lakh, a crest and certificate.
The youth and sports ministry introduced the Sheikh Kamal NSC Award for the first time in 2021 on the occasion of Sheikh Kamal's 72nd birth anniversary.
Build skilled tech-savvy manpower: PM Hasina to Smart Bangladesh Task Force
The ministry officially started celebrating the birth anniversary of Shaheed Sheikh Kamal in 2020 and following the recommendation of the ministry, the Cabinet Division decided to celebrate Sheikh Kamal's birthday on August 5 as an 'Ka' classified day nationally.
State Minister for Youth and Sports Md. Zahid Ahsan Russel presided over the programme.
Prime Minister's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman, chairman of the Standing Committee on Ministry of Youth & Sports Abdullah Al Islam Jakob and Youth and Sports Secretary Mohiuddin Ahmed were also present at the programme.
PM Hasina reaches Rangpur on a day's visit
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived here this afternoon on a daylong visit to attend a number of programmes including addressing a grand rally.
After a helicopter carrying her landed at Rangpur Cantonment at 1:13 pm, the premier was escorted to the Circuit House where she is holding a meeting with Rangpur divisional government officials.
She is expected to arrive in the Rangpur Zilla School around 3pm to attend the grand rally which the Awami Leaders said will be the largest over gathering in the district with a participation of one million of people of all strata of life.
A large boat-shaped stage was built by the workers of Dhaka and Rajshahi where 300 leaders and activists can sit together.
The Awami League president later will address a mammoth public rally from the venue, her first in 12 years to be organised by Rangpur Zilla Awami League.
Rangpur wears festive look to welcome PM Hasina Wednesday
A festive mood has been prevailing among Awami League and its front and associate bodies leaders and activists, and common people for a couple of days over the prime minister’s visit in Rangpur district after around five years since she visited Pirganj and Taraganj on December 23 in 2018.
The entire Rangpur wore a new look with decoration and lighting all over. The city roads have also been decorated to welcome the prime minister.
Posters inscribed with pictures of the Father the Nation and PM Hasina are seen on most of the high-rises, important roads, medians and walls with colourful banners and festoonswhile arches and welcome gates have been erected on roads.
AL never runs away from people: PM Hasina
The Awami League and its associate bodies are serious to turn today’s rally into the biggest-ever one in the history of Rangpur and thus to show strength and public support in favour of it ahead of the next parliamentary elections.Rangpur gears up to welcome PM Hasina on Wednesday
Nagad becomes Bangladesh’s fastest unicorn
Nagad has turned into a unicorn startup only in four years of its launch – the fastest in Bangladesh to reach this impressive feat.
In recognition of the achievement, Tanvir A Mishuk, founder and managing director of Nagad Limited, received the “Fastest to Unicorn Award” from Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at “Bangladesh Startup Summit 2023” in Hotel InterContinental Dhaka on Saturday. At the award giving ceremony eight organisations received awards in eight categories.
Startup Bangladesh Limited, the flagship venture capital company of the Information and Communication Technology Division of the Government of Bangladesh, organised the two-day event that brought together startups, enterprises, venture capitalists, angel investors, regulators, think-tanks, and experts from various countries
Inaugurated by Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 26 March 2019 with a motto of changing lives, Nagad has reshaped the country’s MFS industry with one after another disruptive innovations and inspired confidence among a large number of people to embrace diversified products and services offered by it.
Read more: Nagad became a billion-dollar company in just 3 years, 5 more Bangladeshi unicorns by 2025: Palak
In this way, the state-owned mobile money carrier has established itself as the fastest unicorn startup in Bangladesh with a valuation of $1 billion, equivalent to BDT 10,000 crore, only in four years of its journey.
This is for the first time in Bangladesh, such a grand event has been organised to honour startups. And Nagad, an arm of Bangladesh Postal Department, was the first startup to have got this recognition.
State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak presented the keynote at the startup summit. He lauded Nagad’s contribution to building a smart economy in Bangladesh.
Nagad has reached a milestone of 8 crore customers only in four years of its inception, with its daily transactions hitting BDT 1,300 crore on average.
Read more: Binimoy says it can put an end to illegal digital transactions
After receiving the acknowledgement memento, Managing Director of Nagad Limited Tanvir A Mishuk said, “This day will remain memorable for the Nagad family and me. What I’m now feeling cannot be expressed in words. Today we have got the recognition of the dream, with which we embarked on our journey, from the Honourable Prime Minister. We cannot ask for anything else.”
Currently, Nagad disburses education stipends, social safety allowances, such as allowances for elderly people, widows and the disabled. It has so far given BDT 25,000 crore among beneficiaries.
Md Shamsul Arefin, chairman, Board of Directors, Startup Bangladesh Limited and secretary, ICT Division, and Sami Ahmed, managing director and CEO of Startup Bangladesh Limited, also spoke at the startup summit.
Read more: Daily transaction of MFS crosses Tk3200 crore: BB
PM Hasina to inaugurate Matarbari coal-fired plant in December to add 600MW to national grid: Officials
The first unit of Matarbari coal-fired power plant in Maheshkhali of Cox's Bazar district is likely to go into production by this December, adding 600 MW of electricity to the national grid.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the plant, project officials told reporters this week.
A ship carrying 64,300 mts of coal for the Matarbari plant had arrived from Indonesia on June 23.
The 1200 MW power plant has been built on 1,414 acres of land in Matarbari and Dhalghata unions of Maheshkhali upazila of Cox's Bazar district.
Fire in garbage dump at Matarbari Thermal Power Project under control after 8 hours
Along with the construction of this power plant with Japanese funding on the coast of Cox's Bazar seven years ago, work has also started on the construction of port infrastructure and jetty for coal offloading from ships.
While visiting the area recently, it was seen that the project implementing company, Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCL), is going ahead with the work of this mega project.
The work of the jetty for the coal discharge with the power plant is almost finished. Vessels have also started sailing at the jetty.
PM urges JICA to allow farmers to use wastage of sea water in the desalination project at Matarbari
The project has changed the entire landscape of the area, said officials.
Some 13,104 tons of coal will be required daily to generate electricity at full scale. Coal discharge jetties and silos have been constructed for this.
Coal required for 60 days has been kept in the huge silos. Up to 80,000 ton capacity mother vessels can directly enter the coal jetty. And it will take one and a half to two days to unload the coal from the mother vessel.
Two separate ashponds are kept to store ash for a lifetime of 25 years of the power plant. One has an area of 90 acres, another spread over 600 acres. Coal yard has been prepared on 80 acres of land for coal storage.
64,300 mts of coal for Matarbari coal-fired power plant arrives
A loan agreement on the project was signed between the Government of Bangladesh and JICA on June 16, 2014. The project cost has been estimated at Tk 51,800 crores.
Of this, Tk 43,921 crore will be given as project support by JICA and the remaining Tk 7,933 crore will be provided from the own funds of Bangladesh Government and CPGCBL.
According to project sources, 95 percent of the jetty and physical infrastructure work has already been completed and 90 percent of the overall physical infrastructure work has been done.
Executive Director Nazmul Huq, Matarbari coal-fired plant project said that PM Hasina will inaugurate the power plant in December.
Read more: People suffer as severe load shedding continues countrywide
“But we want to add 600 MW power from here before inauguration and that will happen. The first unit of the Matarbari coal-fired power plant is scheduled to be commissioned in January 2024, but we expect to be fully operational by this December,” he said.
He mentioned that the second unit will be commissioned in next July.
However, he said, electricity from both the units will be connected to the national grid.
The executive director mentioned that the project is being worked on by ensuring all necessary measures to prevent environmental pollution.
“The coal will be seen only once when the coal is unloaded from the ship. Then the coal will go directly from the jetty to the plant. It will not pollute the environment," he said.
Read more: 26,620 mts of coal for Rampal Power plant arrives at Mongla
Highlighting the overall status of the project, the executive director said, we have two parts of this project, one of which is the power plant, the other is the port.
Cox's Bazar Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Shaheen Imran told reporters that the Matarbari Coal Power Project is a priority project of the prime minister.
PM Hasina back home ending three-day visit to Italy
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned home early Thursday after a three-day visit to Italy during which she attended the UN food system summit.
A regular flight of Qatar Airways, carrying the premier and her entourage members, landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 01:50am.
Earlier, the she departed from Rome Fiumicino Airport at 09:45am local time (01:45pm BST).
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina went to Rome on June 23 to attend the United Nations Food Systems Summit+2 Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS+2) at the invitation of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres.
PM leaves Rome for home after Italy visit
The summit was held at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) headquarters in Rome on July 24-26 with the theme “Sustainable Food Systems for People, Planet and Prosperity: Diverse Pathways in a Shared Journey”.
The prime minister delivered her address at the opening ceremony of the conference as a special guest speaker, addressed its plenary session titled “Food Systems and Climate Action” and opened Bangladesh-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Room at the FAO headquarters on July 24.
Besides, Hasina held a bilateral meeting with her Nepalese counterpart Pushpa Kamal Dahal at newly opened Bangladesh-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Room in the FAO headquarters on the sideline of the UN Food Systems Summit.
BNP wants to destabilise the country, not election: PM Hasina says in Rome
Three Italian Ministers -agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida, interior minister Matteo Piantedosi and justice minister Carlo Nordio met her at FAO headquarters.
FAO Director General Qu Dongyu, President of International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD) Alvaro Lario and World Food Programme (WFP) executive director Cindy Hensley McCain separately met her on the same day.
On July 25, Hasina held a bilateral meeting with her Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni. Two Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs)- “Cooperation in the Field of Energy” and “Cultural Exchange Programme” were exchanged between Bangladesh and Italy in the presence of the two leaders.
Italian PM stresses legal migration of workers from Bangladesh
The premier attended the “Conference of Bangladesh Envoys in Europe,” which was held at her place of residence with participation of Bangladeshi envoys stationed in 15 European countries.
PM Hasina also addressed a community event hosted by the expatriate Bangladeshis in Italy on July 25.
BNP wants to destabilise the country, not election: PM Hasina says in Rome
Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has alleged that the BNP doesn’t want election, rather the opposition party seeks to create an abnormal situation in the country.
“The election will definitely be held as per the constitution. BNP knows that the people will not vote for them. Why would the people go to vote for those who were driven out due to vote-rigging? They want to destabilize the country,” she said.
The premier said this on Tuesday (July 25, 2023) while addressing a community event held at her place of residence here in Rome, the capital of Italy. She was in Rome to attend the UN food summit.
She questioned how the BNP can seek votes after killing people through arson violence.
Read more: Time has come for a climate-smart agri-food revolution: PM Hasina tells UN food summit
“They don’t want election. They lick the legs of some of their foreign lords and they want to make the people of the country suffer by them (the foreign lords). They want to hamper the ongoing development trend of the country and its people,” she said.
Hasina said the BNP never wants the welfare of the people of this country. All will have to keep it in mind.
“Their purpose is to catch fish in troubled water. So, their aim is to hamper this progress of Bangladesh,” she told the gathering.
The PM asked all to stay united and protect Bangladesh from this evil force (BNP). “They want to push Bangladesh into an unstable situation again. So, all will have to remain alert in this regard,” she said.
Read more: PM Hasina offers Nepal use of Payra port during meeting with Nepalese counterpart in Rome
Stressing that Bangladesh Awami League (AL) will have to come to power to build the country as Smart Bangladesh, the AL president sought votes for her party electoral symbol ‘boat’ again in the next general election.
Referring to imposition of sanction on Rab officials and visa sanction by the USA, the Prime Minister said, “By whom we've curbed terrorism and militancy, sanction is imposed on them. We can’t understand its mystery.”
“Those who had not supported our liberation war want to play games with our country in various ways now. The players can’t be allowed to play. The people of the country will have to remain united,” she went on.
Read more: Work to stop anti-state propaganda abroad: PM Hasina tells country's envoys
The premier asked expatriate Bangladeshis to send remittance through legal channels, search foreign partners to make investment in Bangladesh particularly in ICT, food processing and small industries.
She also urged the expatriates to abide by the laws of their host countries and discouraged the overseas jobseekers to migrate to the foreign countries through illegal channels.
Hasina asked the expatriates to inspire their families and relatives in Bangladesh not to leave an inch of land uncultivated in order to boost food production amid the current global situation.
She said her government has taken steps to improve the food storage system.
The PM focused on her government's successes in different sectors and the progress the country has attained since 2009.
Read more: Declaring you oppose an election tantamount to spoiling election environment: Hasan Mahmud
END/UNB/MS-FF/F
PM Hasina offers Nepal use of Payra port during meeting with Nepalese counterpart in Rome
Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has offered to Nepal the use of its newly constructed Payra port during a meeting with her Nepalese counterpart Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
The two visiting ministers met at newly opened Bangladesh-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Room in the FAO Headquarters on the sideline of the UN Food Systems Summit. Both leaders are in Rome to attend the summit.
In the meeting, PM Hasina offered Nepal the use of theu Payra port, said Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen while briefing reporters.
Read: Italy keen to take more manpower from Bangladesh in agri & hospitality sectors
“Bangladesh has already opened the Chalna and Chittagong ports for Nepal. Nepal can use the newly constructed Payra port as well,” Momen quoted her as telling Dahal.
PM Hasina said Bangladesh is developing its Sayedpur airport as a regional hub to extend the connectivity in the region.
The Nepalese premier commended the development of Bangladesh under the successful leadership of PM Hasina, said Momen.
Read: Time has come for a climate-smart agri-food revolution: PM Hasina tells UN food summit
“You are a leader of our region,” Momen quoted him as saying.
He said there is a huge scope of hydroelectricity generation in Nepal.
In this context, Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh will take steps to import renewable energy particularly hydroelectricity after the first trilateral power trade from Nepal to Bangladesh through India for 40MW of power starts.
Read: Bangladesh-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Room opened at FAO Headquarters
Dahal mentioned that a good number of Nepalese students are pursuing their studies in Bangladesh.
Govt won't let BNP-Jamaat to carry out destructive activities again: PM Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday (July 20, 2023) said the government has no intention to obstruct the political programmes of BNP-Jamaat, but won’t spare them if they repeat any destructive activity.
“We will not obstruct them in doing politics and are not doing so as well. But they won’t get spared if they set fire to rails again or make any damage to the people,” she said, referring to the violence unleashed by the BNP-Jamaat during the 2013-2015 period.
The premier made the warning while opening train movement on the newly constructed 72-km dual-gauge double rail line, which was built under the Akhaura-Laksam Double Track Project.
Also read: Efforts on to bring home money laundered by BNP leaders: PM Hasina
She joined the inaugural function at Laksam in Cumilla through a virtual platform from her official residence Ganabhaban.
With the newly constructed 72-km dual-gauge double track, the entire 321-km Dhaka-Chattogram corridor has turned into a double lined one increasing its operational capacity, which will save travelling time by 30 minutes to one hour on this route.
Hasina said there will be cameras everywhere and the culprits will be identified and punished properly in case of any destructive activity.
Also read: Staying away from corruption can make possible the impossible: PM Hasina tells govt officials
Terming BNP and Jamaat the terrorist parties, Hasina said they know how to destroy but they don’t know how to create anything or serve the people.
“They know how to plunder, commit corruption and make self-gains,” she said.
The prime minister asked the people of the country to remain alert so that they can stay protected from the hands of terrorist BNP-Jamaat.
“We want the country to be protected from their hands,” she said.
Also read: Need to transform education system to build Smart Bangladesh: PM Hasina tells educators
The PM said that BNP-Jamaat set fire to railways in 29 places during their arson violence unleashed to thwart the 2014 general election.
She said many train operations were suspended during the BNP-Jamaat regime, but the AL government took massive steps to improve the sector considering that train journeys are comfortable and cheap for the common people.
PM Hasina said her government formed a separate ministry for railways in order to increase allocation to the sector.
“In the last 14 and a half years, we constructed 740 km new rail lines, converted 280 km meter-gauge rail tracks into dual-gauge ones, and reinstalled or reconstructed 1,308 km rail lines reinstalled,” she said.
Also read: Govt is always with you: PM Hasina tells businesspeople
Besides, the AL government constructed 126 new station buildings, reconstructed 223 stations buildings, constructed 732 new railway bridges, reinstalled or reconstructed 774 railway bridges in the time, she added.
The PM said her government collected 111 locomotives, 588 passenger carriages and 516 wagons (for carrying goods) since 2009. “We’ve commissioned 143 new trains on different routes,” she said.
She said the government is implementing several mega projects in order to enhance the regional and local railway communication and networks.
Also read: Reach sewage treatment facilities outside Dhaka too: PM Hasina directs authorities
“We’ve taken initiative to collect 46 new broad-gauge locomotives, 460 new broad-gauge passenger carriages, 150 new meter-gauge passenger carriages, 125 new modern luggage vans, 1,310 new wagons,” said the premier.
Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan chaired the event from Laksam end, while LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Tazul Islam (local MP from Laksam-Monohorgonj) and Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq (local MP from Akhaura-Kashba) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) country director for Bangladesh Edimon Ginting spoke on the occasion.
PMO Secretary Mohammad Salahuddin conducted the function and Railways Secretary Humayun Kabir delivered the welcome speech.
Also read: PM Hasina inaugurates South Asia's largest STP in Dhaka's Dasherkandi
Efforts on to bring home money laundered by BNP leaders: PM Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday (July 19, 2023) said the government is trying to bring back the money siphoned off by BNP leaders to different countries.
“The money of many BNP leaders remains frozen (in foreign banks). We’ve been trying to bring these back gradually,” she said.
Hasina, also president of Bangladesh Awami League (AL), was addressing a meeting of the AL-led 14-party alliance held at her official residence Ganabhaban in the evening.
Also read: Denmark keen to invest in offshore wind energy in Bangladesh: Envoy
Criticising the family of BNP leader Khaleda Zia for ‘their corruption’, she said the World Bank stopped financing during the BNP regime due to corruption in the road sector.
The PM said the corruption committed by Khaleda Zia’s two sons Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko got revealed even before the foreigners and an FBI agent testified against Tarique in a money laundering case.
She said the government was able to return Tk 40 crore from the amount of money they (Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko) laundered to foreign countries. “But the problem is that bringing back the money from the countries where they deposited is a difficult matter. The countries don’t want to release the money,” she added.
Also read: Need to transform education system to build Smart Bangladesh: PM Hasina tells educators
Focusing on her government’s success, the prime minister said Bangladesh has significantly advanced in every sector since 2009 during the regime of her government.
“We can at least claim that Bangladesh has changed a lot in the last 14 and a half years. You can definitely realize it as well,” she said.
Hasina said her government has successfully brought the poverty rate down to 18.6 percent now from 41 percent in 2006, while the extreme poverty rate to 5.7 percent from 25.1 percent.
She said the government has been able to boost the production of foods including crops, fish, meat and vegetable, as well as provided free semi-pucca houses to 600,000 landless families and reached electricity facility to every house by raising power generation capacity significantly.
Also read: Govt is always with you: PM Hasina tells businesspeople
“We’ve achieved the electricity generation capacity to 25,000 megawatts within the 14 and a half years,” she said.
The PM said there is no shortage of rice and other crops in Bangladesh.
Noting that the government is setting up 100 special economic zones to generate employment, the PM said the unemployment rate came down to only 3 percent in the country.
Also read: US visa policy to supplement govt commitment to hold free election: Uzra Zeya tells PM
She said the government continues its steps to create entrepreneurs by providing different stimulus packages and training to the youth to bring down the unemployment rate further.
“We’ve taken and implemented massive works not only for the infrastructural development of Bangladesh but also for its socio-economic upliftment,” she said.
PM Hasina said Bangladesh today is considered as a role model for development throughout the world.
Also read: Staying away from corruption can make possible the impossible: PM Hasina tells govt officials
Denmark keen to invest in offshore wind energy in Bangladesh: Envoy
Denmark wants to invest US$1.3 billion for the generation of offshore wind energy in Bangladesh, the country's outgoing ambassador Winnie Estrup Petersen said on Wednesday (July 19, 2023).
The ambassador made the offer while paying a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina this morning at latter’s office here in the city.
PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.
Danish JV submits proposal to set up 500 MW offshore wind power plant in Bangladesh
The prime minister said Bangladesh needs assistances from the friendly countries for its development. In this regard, she mentioned that Bangladesh is setting up 100 special economic zones across the country where both foreign and domestic investments are required.
Both the premier and the envoy appreciated the 50 years of development partnership between Bangladesh and Denmark, said the press secretary.
Denmark committed to support Bangladesh’s aspirations for climate-oriented economic growth: Danish Minister
During the meeting, the Danish ambassador lauded the leadership of PM Hasina in socioeconomic development of Bangladesh.
Hasina told the envoy that her government has substantially reduced the poverty level in the country.
Referring to the development of women, she said that they have put emphasis on the development of women sports.
Regarding the development of democracy in the country, the PM said “We’ve a history of long struggle for democracy in the country.”
The Danish envoy said that her country is the sixth largest exporter in the ICT sector globally. In this connection, Sheikh Hasina said that ICI sector of Bangladesh is also growing first.
Danish ambassador, IFAD country director visit tulip gardens in PanchagarhAmbassador Petersen said that the two countries can extend cooperation in several fields including human development. “We’ve achieved many things through cooperation,” she added.
The ambassador said that she has spent a good time in Bangladesh living with good friends.
The envoy presented books to the premier marking the 50-year development partnership between the two countries.
PMO Secretary Mohammad Salahuddin was present.