PM’s Office building now fully solar-powered: Shama Obaed

The government is working to expand the use of solar energy in public offices, Foreign Affairs State Minister Shama Obaed has said. She said the building where the Prime Minister sits at the Secretariat has already been converted to 100 percent solar energy.

The government is also pursuing waste-to-power generation, increased LNG supply and diversification of energy sources, she said.

Shama Obaed made the remarks at an event organised by the Centre for NRB at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka on 5 September, Saturday.

On solar energy, Shama Obaed said, ‘The Prime Minister is extremely serious about solar power. The building where the Prime Minister sits at the Secretariat has been brought to 100 percent solar energy. We are trying to use solar energy as much as possible in government offices in different places.’

On waste-to-power generation, she said, ‘The government has taken an initiative to generate electricity from waste. China is there, Japan is there; we are talking with different countries. We are trying in different places to increase LNG further.’

On energy diversification, Shama Obaed said, ‘This war has shown us in diversification economic diplomacy that if we are overly dependent on one source, whether you call it energy or any other product, it puts enormous pressure on the economy. We are trying to diversify for energy. We are looking towards African countries; I personally have been working a lot on the African continent. We are trying to see whether energy sources are available in Africa.’

Shama Obaed said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman will participate in the United Nations General Assembly for the first time since the establishment of the democratic government.

She said the session would provide a major opportunity to present Bangladesh internationally while keeping the BNP’s foreign-policy principle of ‘Bangladesh First’ at the centre.

She said, ‘Our national interests will receive importance there. The potential Bangladesh has will receive importance. How Bangladesh’s economic development can take place will receive importance. Taking everything together, this is extremely important. More importantly, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Dr Khalilur Rahman will preside over the General Assembly. In every respect, this session will be extremely important for us.’

The state minister said, ‘We do not just want to promote the good things abroad. We actually want to do something good, so that you can say that good things are happening. The main manifesto of the current government is economic diplomacy. From that perspective, we have inherited a fragile economy from the beginning. It takes time to bring it out of a broken state and put it on the right process.’

She said, ‘From the very beginning, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has been trying. He is trying to make the banking sector transparent. He wants to create an environment where foreigners invest. Not only foreigners, Bangladeshis living abroad should also return and invest in the country. The reality is that I cannot simply wish someone to come and invest; we have to create the environment.’

Shama Obaed said irregular migration is damaging Bangladesh’s image. She said, ‘We have immense respect for our remittance warriors. Twelve of our brothers lost their lives in this Gulf war.’

She added, ‘While working at the Foreign Ministry, I have seen that our brothers are mostly in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, and also in Europe, including Italy. But this tendency to go illegally is a problem. Our people try to travel through the Mediterranean after falling into the hands of trafficking networks, attempting to go from Libya to Italy or Spain. They are being abandoned in the middle of the sea. They are dying.’

She said, ‘The Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment are working very strongly on this issue jointly. When our people go illegally to other countries in this way, this branding creates a huge obstacle for Bangladesh. The current Prime Minister has addressed this issue. We want to send skilled labour.’

Regarding efforts to create an investment-friendly environment, the state minister said, ‘The airport situation will not change in a few months, but we have started. We have addressed the airport situation and visa policy.’

She said, ‘For those who come here from different countries on business visas, tourist visas or work visas, we have made some policy changes to facilitate visas. This has already been passed by the Cabinet. It may come before Parliament soon.’