Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday hoped that the Armed Forces will be the partner in the country’s economic advancement and thus fulfill the aspirations of people.“I hope this partnership between people and the Armed Forces will be cemented further with the passage of time,” she said.
The Prime Minister was addressing the Graduation Ceremony of a one-year National Defence Course and Armed Forces War Course-2015 at Mirpur Cantonment in the capital.
Sheikh Hasina said the Armed Forces have earned the honour both locally as well as internationally for its efficiency and devotion.
She expressed her high optimism that the officials through successfully completing courses from the National Defence College with their knowledge, will and commitment will steer the national efforts towards stability, development and empowerment of people.
“I hope through your actions, our goal of attaining global peace and security will be greatly enhanced,” Hasina said.
She also urged the National Defence College to keep up its standard and upgrade its curricula regularly to remain relevant under the changed global scenario.
Commandant of the National Defence College, Lt Gen Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardy congratulated the graduating members and thanked the faculty members and staff officers of the college for their dedicated efforts in conducting the courses successfully.
Some 75 local and foreign officials from the Army, Navy, Air Force, civil administration, police and foreign services completed the National Defence Course, while 37 officials from the Army, Navy and Air Force completed the Armed Forces War Course this year.
During the course, Hasina said, the officials learned different aspects of a state, including socio-political culture, economy, international relations and national security alongside studying the problems of governance and different solutions to these problems.
“We live in a globalised multi-centric world. Technologies are increasing connections among all the people, providing solutions and also sometimes creating tensions through its abuse. Specially, militants and terrorists spread their claws to undermine humanism. I hope that this course has made you more capable to face any annoying situation,” she added.
Hasina said the strategic location of Bangladesh made it an important ‘actor’ in global politics. Bangladesh is playing a major role in promoting regional integration.
“As our domestic policies have proved to be effective in human development and economic empowerment of people in general, our foreign policy has effectively contributed towards creating the most favorable environment for our development,” she said.
The Prime Minister said all are living in a more interdependent world where any incident, either positive or negative, affects the global community. “The developing countries have to merge with the policy designs of the international community and therefore remain extremely vulnerable to shocks originating from the developed world,”
Hasina went on saying, “It’s a must that the developing countries forge increasing security and economic relations among themselves to diversify and strengthen their economy and national security,”
“In the last seven years, the South Asian region has seen substantial progress on security issues, bilateral relations and multi-lateral cooperation,”
Hasina said her government is very keen for the capacity building of this institution. A project to build an annex structure of the College, costing Tk 132.35 crore is already under process and we’ll consider it, she said.
The Prime Minster also thanked the Commandant and members of the faculty and staff of NDC for their excellent standard of professionalism.
Ministers, Advisers to the Prime Minister, MPs, High Commissioners and Ambassadors of different countries in Bangladesh, the chiefs of the three services, and high civil and military officials and spouses of the graduates were present.
Earlier, the Prime Minister distributed certificates among the participants of the National Defence Course and Armed Forces War Course 2015.
