It’s beneficial only for arms producers: PM

GBNews24 Desk//

Terming the Ukraine-Russia war meaningless, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said only arms producers were profiting from the conflict.

“This war is meaningless. Because we are witnessing that only the arms producers are making profits and the lives of general people are being jeopardised,” she said.

The PM was addressing a programme marking the inauguration of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Centennial Technical Training Centre in Tungipara, Gopalganj, and 23 other technical training centres in different upazilas across the country.

The event was held at the capital’s Osmani Memorial Auditorium, with the premier joining virtually from the Gono Bhaban.

Hasina said the sanctions and counter-sanctions over the Ukraine-Russia war were threatening the global economy.

“Developed countries are facing serious problems. They have now started to save electricity and fuel. Worried about food security, they are taking various steps in this regard.”

She said countries like Bangladesh which have started a journey towards a specific goal to become developed are facing massive hurdles due to this war.

The PM mentioned that the war broke out at a time when the world was facing coronavirus pandemic and the resultant economic slow down.

“To save fuel, all countries have taken various types of initiatives and we are also following that.”

Hasina put emphasis on building skilled manpower as Bangladesh has a large young population.

“We are working on that. We want to build skilled manpower through providing training for them aiming to continue the pace of development.”

Talking about forex reserves, the PM said that it is very much normal that the foreign exchange reserve would sometimes be more and sometimes less.

“There are some people who are making hue and cry over this issue. I think it is enough if we have reserves for procuring three months’ food.”

She said the country, however, should reduce dependency on others for food. “We have to increase our food production…. We have to adopt modern technology not only for producing food, but also for preserving those.”

She stressed the need for setting up new industries for food processing, which can meet the domestic demands and earn foreign currency by exporting those.

Hasina asked the authorities concerned to look into the demands of the new markets abroad and produce food to export. “That means, we will have to give more attention to export-oriented foreign exchange earnings.”

The PM said her government sent 963,0505 workers abroad and received $21.03 billion during the 2021-22 fiscal year as remittance which was five times higher than that of FY2005-06 during the rule of then BNP-Jamaat alliance government.

She underlined the importance of imparting proper training to people with priority on vocational, technical and science skills so they can cope with advanced technologies and fourth industrial revolution.

The premier asked the authorities concerned to focus on training bus and lorry drivers as there is huge demand for them abroad.

She stressed the need for working in unison by all ministries concerned regarding manpower export.