Nation bids adieu to 2018, welcomes 2019

The nation bade adieu to the year 2018, forgetting all odds and sorrows of the past and welcoming 2019 with new hopes at midnight through different programmes.

Jubilant people, particularly the youngsters, joined various New Year celebrations as the clock struck 12:00. The landslide victory of Awami League in the 11th Jatiya Sangsad election is expected to add new zeal to the New Year celebration across the country.

As 2018 drew to a close, New Zealand was among the first few countries to usher in the New Year. The New Zealand Herald reported that hundreds of people headed into the city centres to start their celebrations from late evening to they welcome the New Year.

Celebrations then moved across the world -- to Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and finally the Americas.

Dazzling light shows bid adieu to 2018 in major cities, along with other traditional celebrations.

On this special occasion, people have already conveyed their best wishes to their friends and beloved ones through greeting cards and using different messaging applications and social media platforms.

Corporate and government officials and various organisations also did the same as they do every year.

The day was also a moment of looking back to the outgoing year for reviewing the successes and failures and planning strategies to reach new goals for the New Year, with accomplishing the unfinished tasks those need to be done in the coming days.

The year 2018 was a significant year for Bangladesh as the country saw many successes in major areas including politics, economy, agriculture, combating terrorism and driving the IT sectors towards attaining the middle-income status. The country was largely peaceful in the political landscape in 2018.

The peaceful political situation allowed the country's economy to grow faster.

Marking the day, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) drew up multi-tiered security measures. It banned holding of any programme at open places for the sake of overall security and law and order, according to DMP.

Police personnel in uniforms and plainclothes were deployed and members of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit, SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) and bomb disposal team discharged their duties at different city points to ensure safety.