First meeting presided over by PM
3 priorities set by new government
The first meeting of the cabinet was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.
This meeting of the cabinet, consisting of members and advisors from the new cabinet led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, took place at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Wednesday afternoon.
In the meeting, the new government initially set three priorities and decided to implement them.
The three priorities are controlling the prices of essential commodities, improving the law and order situation, and maintaining a normal supply of electricity and energy.
The meeting started around three in the afternoon under the presidency of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, with the members and advisors of the new cabinet. Following this, the new Prime Minister held a meeting with the secretaries.
After the meeting, as they were leaving, the new Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed and the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Zahuruddin Swapan, presented the decisions and discussions of the meeting to the journalists present.
The Home Minister mentioned that it is customary to hold a cabinet meeting on the government's first day. All members of the cabinet and advisors were present in the meeting. The Prime Minister has given some directives to the ministers and advisors. The government has set priorities for 180 days, which will be communicated later.
Salahuddin Ahmed noted that considering the government's priorities, initially controlling the prices of essential commodities and maintaining their supply, further improving the law and order situation, and ensuring no problems in the power and energy sectors (gas-electricity) are prioritised. These are the priorities.
Zahuruddin Swapan, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, stated that the government's priority at the moment is to control the prices of essential commodities due to the holy Ramadan, keeping the law and order situation tolerable for people, and maintaining a normal power supply, especially during Tarawih and Iftar times. Essentially, these three topics have emerged as priorities.
To implement these, the respective ministers will present their action plans to the Prime Minister within a day or two, and subsequent steps will be taken as per the Prime Minister's instructions.
Assessment based on merit
After meeting with the new cabinet members and advisors, the new Prime Minister also held a meeting with the secretaries.
Regarding the meeting with all government secretaries, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said that the Prime Minister has asked the secretaries to sincerely implement the promises of the electoral manifesto as the people have given their verdict according to the BNP's electoral manifesto. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman made this appeal to the secretaries.
Salahuddin Ahmed mentioned, ''We have told everyone that we will not consider any personal affiliations. We will assess everyone based on merit.''
On this issue, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Land, ASM Saleh Ahmed, told reporters that the people have given their verdict after seeing the manifesto of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
They must have liked the manifesto. To fulfill that manifesto according to the people's expectations, deploying all the secretary's merit to work with professionalism is good for the country.
On the previous day, Tuesday afternoon, the new cabinet members took their oaths. In addition to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, the new cabinet consists of 25 ministers and 24 state ministers.
According to the Rules of Business, the Prime Minister distributes the responsibilities of ministries or departments to the ministers and state ministers. Additionally, 10 advisors are appointed with the rank of Minister and state minister.
After assuming responsibility, on the first day, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and cabinet members paid homage at the National Memorial in Savar. From there, they traveled to the Secretariat.