DHAKA: Apart from disappointments generated by accidents, deaths and killings, the country experienced a number of developments as well as achievements in the year of 2013.

Below are the highlights of developments:

Hatirjheel Project:

The Hatirjheel-Begunbari project was inaugurated on January 2, 2013 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The Hatirjheel project opened for the use of general people after the inauguration. As Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, it was a new year gift to the people, while inaugurating the project.

Dhaka’s longest flyover:

City dwellers’ dream for an elevated roadway came true as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally opened the country’s longest (11.8km) “Jatrabari-Gulistan Flyover” amidst public fanfare in the capital on October 11 in 2013.

Kuril Flyover:

Dhaka City stepped into a new phase to make the capital a modern habitat by decreasing traffic jam and putting in place faster transport facilities with opening of the city’s ever largest communication infrastructure, also 3.1-kilometre multi-dimensional – “Kuril Flyover” for traffic on August 4, 2013.

Zillur Rahman flyover:

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on march 27 opened the 1,793-metres Mirpur-Airport flyover named after late President Zillur Rahman three months before schedule.

Bahaddarhaat Flyover:

The 1.33 kilometre Bahaddarhaat flyover is an Eid-ul-Azha gift to residents of Chittagong, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as she opened it to traffic on October 12, 2013.

Largest Human Flag:

It was December 16, the 42nd Victory Day of Bangladesh, some 27,117 patriot people set a world record for the country creating the ‘Largest Human Flag’ carrying red-and-green boards.

National Anthem World Record:

On the same day at Suhrawardy Uddyan, the second record was the largest number of people singing the national anthem simultaneously, with more than 300,000 people at exactly 16:31 on 16 December singing “Amar Sonar Bangla” marking the exact moment that Pakistani forces surrendered.

Celebrating 10,000MW capacity:

After starving for less than 4,000MW of electricity just five years ago, the government has tackled the severe crisis of power generation and supply in the short term and on November 12, 2013, celebrated the milestone of generating a capacity of 10,000MW with a grand and cheerful jubilation at the Hatirjheel Lake.

Foreign Currency Reserves:

Bangladesh`s foreign currency reserves crossed the $18-billion mark for the first time due to buoyant remittance flow and rising export income on December 19, 2013.

A media statement from the central Bank said it had a reserve of $18.05 bln -- second only to India among the SAARC countries.

Exports:

Exports in Bangladesh increased to 2590.20 USD Million in September of 2013 from 2013. 40 USD Million in August of 2013. Exports in Bangladesh is reported by the Bangladesh Bank.

Bangladesh: largest UN Peacekeepers

The Bangladesh Army has been actively involved in a number of United Nations Peace Support Operations (UNPSO) since its formation in the 1970s.

In the latest development, Bangladesh will send an infantry battalion of 1,000 troops with helicopters and transport planes to join the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, the world’s youngest country wracked by ethnic and political violence.

Manpower exports

The outflow of overseas employees remains stable despite the country passing through a deep political crisis.

Kuala Lumpur signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dhaka to recruit about 30,000 Bangladeshi workers primarily by March, 2013 and now onwards the manpower recruitment to Malaysia will be made under government’s direct supervision without any involvement of third party and agents, and by the respective agencies designated by both the governments.

Another good feature of the MoU is that the workers will be able to go to Malaysia by spending a total of Tk 40,000 which is three to five times lower than that of in the past.

Besides, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is likely to resume recruiting Bangladeshi workers soon.

Bangladesh`s progress on the MDGs

Bangladesh has already met several targets of the MDGs like reducing poverty gap ratio, attaining gender parity at primary and secondary education, under-five mortality rate reduction, containing HIV infection with access to antiretroviral drugs, children under five sleeping under insecticide treated bed nets, detection and cure rate of tuberculosis under directly observed treatment short course and others. In addition, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in the areas of poverty reduction, reducing the prevalence of underweight children, increasing enrolment at primary schools, lowering the infant mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio, improving immunization coverage and reducing the incidence of communicable diseases.

Visits & tours

On March 3, 2013, the first Bengali President of India Pranab Mukherjee arrived in Dhaka on a three-day visit.

On Dec 6, 2013, Key UN official Oscar Fernández-Taranco arrived in Dhaka this evening for a four-day whirlwind visit to discuss with political leaders.

Indian foreign secretary Sujatha Singh visited at Dhaka on Dec 3 for the first time to try to break the political impasse in Dhaka.

On February 15, 2013 - Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid arrived in Dhaka on a two-day visit to review a whole range of bilateral relations.

US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal arrived Dhaka on November 16 on her first bilateral visit to Bangladesh.

On September 11, Bangladesh-born British MP Rushanara Ali led a team of six British MPs in Dhaka on a week`s visit to talk about climate change impacts.

Sport: Bangladesh whitewash New Zealand

On November 3, 2013, Bangladesh completed a 3-0 one-day international series whitewash over New Zealand by winning the final game in Fatullah of Narayanganj by four wickets.

BDST: 2138 HRS, DEC 31, 2013
Edited by: Abul Kalam Azad, Senior Newsroom Editor