Help strengthen democratic process
President urges political parties at JS
President Abdul Hamid yesterday called upon both the ruling and opposition parties to play their due role in parliament to strengthen the country's democratic process and fulfil the expectations of the nation.
He came up with the call while addressing the first session of the New Year in parliament last evening.
"The National Parliament is the centre of expectation of the country's general people. The present government is working sincerely to establish the country as a developed and enlightened one through strengthening its democratic process," the president said.
Alongside the ruling party, he said, the opposition parties needed to play a constructive role in ensuring transparency, accountability, tolerance, human rights and good governance.
Abdul Hamid urged all to get united aiming to uphold the spirit of the Liberation War, strengthen democracy and good governance, eliminate terrorism and militancy from the country, and establish a society free from exploitation.
The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working hard to establish a progressive, democratic, non-communal and poverty-free Bangladesh in line with its Vision 2021 and in the spirit of the Liberation War, he said.
Bangladesh has already become a low middle income country and it will be a developed one well before 2041 if the trend of development continues, he said.
Recalling the government's stance to fight terrorism and militancy, the president said, war crimes trial against the people who committed crimes in 1971 would continue, showing respect to the international crimes tribunal acts and rules.
The government is also showing zero tolerance to terrorism and militancy for which Bangladesh is now recognised as a reliable country by the international community, he said, adding that the government has been combating these problems in line with the steps taken in its previous tenure and this has resulted in checking the acts of sabotage and ensuring peace in public life.
The president said Bangladesh had achieved a significant progress at all indicators of the economy due to prudent management of the government in addition to the better progress in social indicators compared to neighbouring countries.
About the GDP growth, he said Bangladesh had a steady 6.5 GDP growth over the last five years due to the government's prudent fiscal and monetary policies. The final estimate of GDP growth during fiscal 2015-16 was 7.11 percent while the per-capita income has increased to US$ 1,465 during the period, he added.
During the fiscal 2015-16, the remittance inflow stood at US$ 14.93 billion, said the president, adding that the foreign exchange during the fiscal 2015-16 showed US$ 3.7 billion surplus due to reduction in trade imbalance and deficit in hospitality sector and primary income sectors.