President urges nat’l consensus

President Abdul Hamid on Wednesday called upon political parties to forge national consensus on core issues like democracy, the rule of the law and continue the socio-economic development efforts.
As peace and progress cannot be durable without national unity, president Hamid in his inaugural address in Parliament called upon all the political parties and people irrespective of opinion to forge consensus on the key issues.
President Hamid congratulated Sheikh Hasina for taking the oath as prime minister for the fourth term.
He also congratulated the Speaker, the deputy speaker, the new MPs as well as the countrymen. 
The president said both the treasury and the opposition benches should play their due roles to ensure transparency, accountability, human rights, the rule of the law and to realize the dreams of the people.
The president said fresh spirit had been infused in various spheres of life after the new government took office.
He expressed the hope that the multidimensional initiatives of the government would expedite economic development.
Bangladesh’s march on the path of peace, democracy, development and prosperity should be uninterrupted, he said.
The president said, ‘The nation will celebrate the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the golden jubilee of country’s independence as a middle-income country.’
The nation expects that Bangladesh would have a developed economy by 2041, he said.
In his 158-page prepared speech, the president highlighted the government’s achievements in economy, trade and commerce, agriculture, power, foreign affairs and other spheres.
He said that the brightest sons of the soil sacrificed their lives to present the independent Bangladesh to the people.
‘Our responsibility is to speed up pace of development to build Sonar Bangla by uprooting militancy, violence, corruption and drug abuse,’ he said.
‘We have deeply indebted to millions of martyrs of 1971. Irrespective of faith and opinion let’s honour the martyrs by strengthening democracy and socio-economic development,’ he added.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net