The President Md. Shahabuddin urged all the political parties of the country to give importance to public interest in accepting and implementing political programs.

He said that the main aim and purpose of politics is public welfare. Public interest should prevail in all decisions taken by governments and politicians.

The Head of State said these things while addressing a program organized on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the establishment of the Community Clinic at the Osmany Memorial Auditorium in the capital on Tuesday (April 30) afternoon.

He requested to avoid such programs as the development and progress of the country is hindered and the suffering of the people increases.

The President also urged everyone to work together to implement all the measures taken to ensure the economic and social security of the people. He said, regardless of party affiliation, work together to make all government initiatives successful.

President Shahabuddin emphasized on extending a hand of cooperation to everyone in the sustainable progress of the community clinic as a public welfare institution of the country.

Appreciating the overall activities of the entrepreneurs of the community clinic, the President said that Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman worked for the freedom of Bengalis all his life and following the path shown by Bangabandhu, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took various programs of the community clinic to advance the country.

Mentioning that public interest should be given priority in every aspect of the government's activities, the President said that besides food, clothing, shelter and education, multifaceted programs are taken and implemented to bring medical services to the doorsteps of the people to improve public health.

He said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina started the first community clinic at Gimadanga in Gopalganj on April 26, 2000 to ensure health care for the marginalized people of the country. Community clinic activities are now recognized as a 'unique model' of healthcare across the world.

The President said, but after the change of power in the 2001 elections, the then government's vindictive anti-public interest decision stopped this well-loved health service initiative for marginalized people.

He said today community clinics have become a place of trust for people in terms of medical services for marginalized people, especially women and children. The utility and reputation of the community clinic spread beyond the village-town to the national level and even the global sphere.

He said that in order to realize the dream of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to build Sonar Bangla and to fulfill the basic needs of the people, a total of ten special initiatives including community clinic activities, shelter, electricity for all, Amar Bari Amar Khamar, social security programs were taken.

He pointed out that these ten special initiatives taken by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to build a happy and prosperous nation free from hunger and poverty are already playing a major role in improving the quality of life of the people.

The Head of State said that the United Nations has recognized 'Community Clinic' as 'The Sheikh Hasina Initiative'. This is an important international recognition of our government's innovative leadership in primary health care in public-private partnership.

He said that currently 14 thousand 173 community clinics are working as a model of public partnership. It is a unique example of government-people partnership. The contribution of community clinics in providing health education at the grass root level and creating public awareness to prevent the epidemic during the Corona period and implementing mass vaccination programs is undoubtedly worthy of appreciation.

He further said that Bangladesh has won many prestigious international awards like MDG Award, South-South Award, GAVI Award and Vaccine Hero Award in recognition of our success in the health sector.

This achievement of the Prime Minister has brightened the image of Bangladesh in the world and made us proud.

The President expressed hope that the Prime Minister's unique initiative 'The Sheikh Hasina Initiative' will spread throughout the world and contribute to human welfare.

Chaired by Community Clinic Support Trust President Professor Dr Syed Modasser Ali, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Samant Lal Sen, Secretary of Health Service Division Jahangir Alam, Managing Director of Community Clinic Health Assistance Trustee Additional Secretary AKM Nurunnabi Kabir and Line Director of Community Based Health Care (CBHC) Dr. Md. Qayyum Talukder and others spoke. 

Coordinated efforts should be made with maximum emphasis at national and international levels for speedy and safe repatriation of the Rohingya crisis. The Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Kamaluddin Ahmed commented that the multidimensional crisis is intensifying and the humanitarian situation is deteriorating.

He said this when John Quinley, director of international human rights organization Fortify Rights, met with the National Human Rights Commission at the commission's headquarters on Tuesday (April 30). During the meeting, the chairman of the commission presented the multidimensional aspects of the Rohingya crisis.

During the conversation, the chairman of the commission also said that the Rohingyas have been expelled from their homes due to brutal attacks, violence and genocide. They have been victims of mass murder, sexual harassment and human rights violations. The violence still has massive physical and psychological effects. It is our job to protect their rights and return them.

During the meeting, John Quinley presented a publication entitled 'My Tears Could Make a sea'-The Infliction of Mental Harm as Genocide against Rohinga' and the chairman of the commission for overall patronage. He expressed gratitude to Kamal Uddin Ahmed. The publication highlights the physical and psychological effects of violence on the Rohingya population and human rights violations against the Rohingya from various perspectives. The publication was jointly published by human rights organization Fortify Rights and Yale Law College's International Human Rights Clinic. The book contains some important recommendations and can be considered as an important publication in research and data collection on Rohingya issues.

It should be noted that the National Human Rights Commission has been sponsoring publication and research for a long time. The current commission is working continuously to solve the Rohingya crisis at the national and international levels. 

Minister of Agriculture Dr. Md. Abdus Shahid said that China wants to buy mangoes from Bangladesh this year. An expert delegation from China has expressed interest in visiting mango orchards and production operations during mango ripening.

He said that the delegation wants to come to Bangladesh in early June this year. Based on the report of the delegation, China's customs department will give final approval for the import of mangoes from Bangladesh.

He said these things at the end of the meeting held with Yao Wen, the Chinese ambassador appointed in Dhaka, at the Secretariat's own office on Monday (April 29).

At this time, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Malay Chowdhury, Joint Secretary Md. Mahmudur Rahman, Economic and Commercial Counselor of Chinese Embassy Song Yang and others were present.

Expecting China's investment in agriculture, the minister said, "China's investment and technical cooperation is needed to modernize and mechanize Bangladesh's agriculture." China's cooperation is needed in this regard especially so that the country's farmers can get modern agricultural machinery at a low price because we can buy machines from China at relatively low prices.

Earlier in the afternoon, Irma Van Duren, Ambassador of the Netherlands appointed in Dhaka, had a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture. The meeting emphasized on increasing mutual cooperation in the agricultural sector and working together on strengthening agricultural research and technology exchange.

The meeting discussed the construction and operation of an onion storage facility at Bhaluka, Mymensingh, under the initiative of the Netherlands government. It is said that onions can be stored all year round in this archive.

The minister said, 'Onion is a very important crop for us. To become self-sufficient in onions, we are emphasizing on increasing and preserving onion production. The construction of storage houses under the initiative of the Netherlands government will play a very helpful role in this regard.

The Agriculture Minister will inaugurate the onion storage facility built at Bhaluka in Mymensingh on the initiative of the Netherlands government on May 2. 

For the sake of humanity, the foreign minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud urged the international community not to accept any new weapons, including automatic weapons.

He made the call at a high-level panel discussion on the challenges of regulating automatic weapons systems at the International Conference on 'Humanity at the Crossroads: Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Challenge of Regulation' at Vienna's Hofburg Palace on Monday (April 29).

The foreign minister said that it is necessary to focus on the beneficial application of artificial intelligence for the benefit of mankind, including agriculture, medicine, space exploration, climate change, employment creation, and not on weapons systems to wipe out humanity.

Dr. Hasan highlighted the importance of controlling the use of weapons on people. He questioned what would happen to international peace and security if non-state actors and terrorist organizations had access to artificially intelligent automated weapons.

He advocated global policies to effectively control automatic weapons systems and said appropriate international laws should be judiciously applied to both lethal artificial intelligence and automatic weapons.

The foreign minister highlighted the precarious situation in Gaza and warned the international community against opening new fronts of conflict and tension.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schulenburg, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Arnoldo Andre Tenneco, Norwegian State Secretary Eivind Vad Peterson and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric Eger joined as co-panelists.

More than eight hundred representatives of more than 120 UN bodies, rights groups and international organizations are participating in this conference organized by the Ministry of European and International Affairs of Austria.