Moin Mahmood: Women and Child Affairs and Social Welfare Minister Professor Dr. AZM Zahid Hossain, MP, said, we want to build an inclusive humane Bangladesh, where no one will feel deprived.

The minister said this while addressing the Plenary Session 2: Inclusive Development, FYSF and SDGs discussion of the national conference titled `Navigating Five Year Strategic Framework for Achieving SDGs: Policy, Partnership and Priority` at the Celebrity Hall of the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Center today. Prime Minister`s Education, Primary and Mass Education, Expatriate Welfare and Labor Advisor Mahdi Amin was present as a special guest on the program. BNP Standing Committee Member and Reserved Women`s Seat MP Selima Rahman, Reserved Women`s Seat MP Madhavi Marma and Social Welfare Secretary Dr. Mohammad Abu Yusuf were the guests of honor.

The minister said, the SDG goals are included in the 31-point election manifesto of BNP and since the formation of the government, we have all been working under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to achieve the goals.

The minister further said, the government is providing financial security to low and middle class families through `Family Card`, introducing `Mid-Day Meal` in schools to prevent students from dropping out, undertaking a nationwide `Tree Plantation Program` to protect the environment, introducing `Agricultural Card` to make fertilizers, seeds and loans easy for farmers, providing technical training to the backward communities and women in the society to make them self-reliant for human resource development, and providing seed money (initial capital) and supporting equipment if necessary. Religion, caste, tribe, politics, level and unevenness are not being taken into consideration in providing all these facilities; they are available only to citizens of Bangladesh. In other words, the government is giving equal importance to the needs of every person in the society.

The speakers at the event called for adopting sustainable development policies to meet the needs of the present generation without harming future generations. Here, all issues including climate change, environment, education, health, women and children were discussed. At one stage of the event, the minister and invited guests answered various questions from the participants.

The event was chaired by economist Debapriya Bhattacharya, Honorary Fellow of the Center for Policy Dialogue.