Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday (16 April) said that political leadership and decision- and not military rule -- is the most important matter for a country to prosper.

"Whenever our country was outside this political decision, which means under direct or indirect military rule, it did not register its development and prosperity. The people of the country have to realise this," she said.

The premier said this while delivering her introductory speech at the 8th meeting of the National Training Council held at her official residence Ganobhaban in Dhaka.

She said that development in every sector was ensured when the political leadership came to power. "At least I can claim that from 2009 to 2023 the unprecedented development of the country was done by the political decision," she said.

Sheikh Hasina said that her government has adopted the ideology and ideals of Independence and followed it in running the administration. "We are getting the results. Because of this policy, we have attained the status of a developing country," she said.

She urged all to sustain this momentum of development and democracy for the benefit of the generations to come. "We have to keep our eyes, particularly on this matter," she said.

The premier put utmost importance on training as she said it is urgently needed to develop one nation.

"The world is changing and now an era of technology is underway. We have to advance further in compliance with the era of technology," she said.

She mentioned that it should be ensured that the country's manpower gets proper training for appropriate advancement in the coming days.

"In the ever-evolving world, we need to keep pace with the rest of the world. We need that capable manpower also," she said.

In this regard, she said that from 2009 to April 2023 the foreign training section of the Public Administration Ministry sent some 6,185 public servants for short-term training abroad while 606 got long-term training.

She mentioned that the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war caused setbacks for the whole world.

"We have been able to continue our development pace despite the problems. I know that there will be obstacles and adverse situation time and again," she stated.

She regretted that there is one section of people in the country who did not participate in the Liberation War and don't believe in independence.

"They always hold a negative attitude about the country, and we have to move further overcoming these hurdles. Obstacles will come, but we have to find our way to move forward."

Stressing the need for training of manpower she asked the NTC to prepare a curriculum which will supplement the government's initiative to make Smart Bangladesh. "We want to advance step by step keeping no one behind," she asserted.

She said that her government's aim is to reduce further the number of ultra-poor which now account for five per cent of the country's population.