UNB, Dhaka :
The Cabinet on Monday approved a proposal for signing an agreement between Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), aiming to increase security cooperation between the two countries to control crimes.
The deal will be signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s upcoming visit to the UAE this month.
The approval was given at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at the Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said another deal titled ‘Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners’ is also expected to be signed during the Prime Minister.
He said a Home Ministry team is already in the UAE to finalise the second agreement.
The Cabinet also gave nod to another proposal for signing an agreement on military cooperation on training and other fields with Kuwait.
Kuwait, in fact, took the initiative while the Bangladesh government prepared the draft as per the Arab country’s proposal.
Under the agreement, there will be cooperation between the two countries on military training and education, military intelligence, logistics, exchange of military observers, defense industry, technology and scientific development, technology transfer, anti-smuggling and anti-narcotics measures between the two countries.
Besides, cooperation on military history, military archives and military museums will also be enhanced under the agreement.
The annual report on the activities of different ministries and divisions for fiscal 2013-14 was also placed before the Cabinet meeting. The meeting expressed its satisfaction over the annual report on the activities of different ministries and divisions.
The Cabinet Secretary said, the report highlighted that the per capita income, revenue collection, inflation, foreign currency reserve showed a positive trend during the fiscal 2013-14 compared to the previous fiscal year.
He said, the per capita income reached $ 1190 in FY 14 compared to $ 1044 in FY 13 while the export earnings witnessed an 11.69 percent growth in FY 14. The overall revenue collection showed an 8.35 percent growth at the end of FY 14 while the foreign currency reserve totalled $ 21.508 billion at the end of FY 14 with a 40.44 percent growth.
Musharraf Hossain said, the exchange rate was stable during the last fiscal year while the point-to-point inflation rate came down to 6.97 percent in FY 14 from 8.06 percent in FY 13.
The ADP utilisation rate in FY 14 reached 93.11 percent with the expenditure of Tk 59,580 crore. Some 239 development projects were completed in the last fiscal year out of the earmarked 242 projects.
In the last fiscal year, he said, the expenditure on social safety net programmes has increased to Tk 26,654 crore, the agricultural production has increased alongside progress in ICT use, the number of mobile phone users increased to 11.62 crore as of June 2014, the internet users increased to 3.89 crore while the tele-density stood at 77.91 percent.
The Cabinet Secretary also said there has been a marked improvement in the health, education, communication and power sector in the last fiscal year. He said some 69 State Owned Enterprises (SoEs) have turned out to be profitable in FY 14 while 19 became loosing concerns.
The Cabinet also made a set of recommendations that include further strengthening inter-ministerial meetings to expedite the implementation of various policies and programmes, capacity development of the implementing agencies to expedite ADP utilisation alongside the extensive monitoring, taking more initiatives to fill vacant posts, load management of power and tackle misuse, imparting training to more volunteers for tackling natural disasters, creating more awareness for controlling food adulteration and extending the e-tendering activities.
The Cabinet on Monday approved a proposal for signing an agreement between Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), aiming to increase security cooperation between the two countries to control crimes.
The deal will be signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s upcoming visit to the UAE this month.
The approval was given at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at the Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said another deal titled ‘Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners’ is also expected to be signed during the Prime Minister.
He said a Home Ministry team is already in the UAE to finalise the second agreement.
The Cabinet also gave nod to another proposal for signing an agreement on military cooperation on training and other fields with Kuwait.
Kuwait, in fact, took the initiative while the Bangladesh government prepared the draft as per the Arab country’s proposal.
Under the agreement, there will be cooperation between the two countries on military training and education, military intelligence, logistics, exchange of military observers, defense industry, technology and scientific development, technology transfer, anti-smuggling and anti-narcotics measures between the two countries.
Besides, cooperation on military history, military archives and military museums will also be enhanced under the agreement.
The annual report on the activities of different ministries and divisions for fiscal 2013-14 was also placed before the Cabinet meeting. The meeting expressed its satisfaction over the annual report on the activities of different ministries and divisions.
The Cabinet Secretary said, the report highlighted that the per capita income, revenue collection, inflation, foreign currency reserve showed a positive trend during the fiscal 2013-14 compared to the previous fiscal year.
He said, the per capita income reached $ 1190 in FY 14 compared to $ 1044 in FY 13 while the export earnings witnessed an 11.69 percent growth in FY 14. The overall revenue collection showed an 8.35 percent growth at the end of FY 14 while the foreign currency reserve totalled $ 21.508 billion at the end of FY 14 with a 40.44 percent growth.
Musharraf Hossain said, the exchange rate was stable during the last fiscal year while the point-to-point inflation rate came down to 6.97 percent in FY 14 from 8.06 percent in FY 13.
The ADP utilisation rate in FY 14 reached 93.11 percent with the expenditure of Tk 59,580 crore. Some 239 development projects were completed in the last fiscal year out of the earmarked 242 projects.
In the last fiscal year, he said, the expenditure on social safety net programmes has increased to Tk 26,654 crore, the agricultural production has increased alongside progress in ICT use, the number of mobile phone users increased to 11.62 crore as of June 2014, the internet users increased to 3.89 crore while the tele-density stood at 77.91 percent.
The Cabinet Secretary also said there has been a marked improvement in the health, education, communication and power sector in the last fiscal year. He said some 69 State Owned Enterprises (SoEs) have turned out to be profitable in FY 14 while 19 became loosing concerns.
The Cabinet also made a set of recommendations that include further strengthening inter-ministerial meetings to expedite the implementation of various policies and programmes, capacity development of the implementing agencies to expedite ADP utilisation alongside the extensive monitoring, taking more initiatives to fill vacant posts, load management of power and tackle misuse, imparting training to more volunteers for tackling natural disasters, creating more awareness for controlling food adulteration and extending the e-tendering activities.
