Highlighting Bangladesh’s tremendous development in the last one decade, prime minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh has graduated to a developing country and is a role model of development in the world.
She said the country’s GDP rate increased to 8.13 per cent and poverty rate was brought down to 21 per cent from 41 per cent, she said.
Sheikh Hasina was addressing a reception accorded to her by Bangladesh Embassy in Spain at Hotel Villa Magna in Madrid on Sunday evening local time.
Expatriate Bangladeshis, including Awami League leaders and workers living in Spain and other European countries, joined the reception, BSS reports.
The prime minister said, “We’ll celebrate the birth centenary of Bangabandhu in 2020 and golden jubilee of independence in 2021 by keeping up this trend of development,” she said.
She said Bangladesh is now marching on all fronts from economy to sports and games.
“The people of other countries now respect Bangladesh when they hear its name. But previously they knew Bangladesh as a country of flood, drought, famine and corruption,” Sheikh Hasina said.
The prime minister reaffirmed to continue her government’s ongoing drive against terrorism, militancy, narcotics and corruption for the sake of maintaining the country's development spree.
“We’ve launched the drive against terrorism, militancy, narcotics and corruption and the drive will continue to keep up the country’s development spree,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said a section of people want to lead a lavish life by indulging in bribery and corruption and committing terrorism and snatching and they try to say that ‘mui ki honure’ (what we became).
“But we want such mentality among the people doesn’t exist and this illness of the society will have to be eliminated,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said it is better to have ‘noon-bhat’ (rice with salt) in the honest way than eating ‘biriyani’ in the dishonest path.
“We learned it from the Father of the Nation and we’ve to teach it to new generations,” she said.
Bangladesh ambassador to Spain Hassan Mahmud Khandaker delivered the welcome address at the function, while foreign minister AK Abdul Momen and environment, forest and climate change minister Md Shahabuddin were present on the dais.
The prime minister arrived in Madrid on Sunday afternoon for a three-day official visit to Spain to join the “Heads of State and Government Summit” of the 25th Annual Conference of Parties (COP25).
