Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday emphasized the need for mainstreaming the people of enclaves following the passage of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) by Indian parliament.

Sheikh Hasina said this when UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident representative Robert Watkins met her at her office.

PM's Press Secretary AKM Shameem Chowdhuri briefed reporters after the meeting.

The Prime Minister said her government would consider steps for enclave people’s overall development so that they can have them connected with the country’s mainstream.

Robert Watkins told the Prime Minister that the United Nations also would lend its support to this end.

Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian parliament, on Thursday unanimously passed the historic Land Boundary Agreement (LBA), enabling both the neighbouring nations to settle the more than four-decade-old land boundary and exchange of enclaves issues.

The bill was also unanimously passed by Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament, on Wednesday.

To attain the Vision 2021, Hasina said, her government has already been able to achieve food security and would continue its efforts to ensure the nutrition security for the country’s people.

She said Bangladesh would attain Vision 2021 as the country would be observing its Golden Jubilee of Independence in 2021, vowed to further alleviate poverty by 10 percent in the next three years.

Referring to the mayhem and anarchy in the country carried out by the BNP-Jamaat alliance for 92 days since January this year, the PM said the poor people had been the worst victims of the anarchy during the period.

In response, the UN Resident Coordinator said it was very unfortunate. ‘I think it is over now.’

Mentioning that her government has given utmost importance to education to attain the Vision 2021, Hasina said her government has created all the scopes for the students, including free distribution of textbooks, fixed dates for holding examinations and releasing results and which are all goal-oriented ones, but the BNP-Jamaat has spoiled this trend.

The UN Resident Coordinator highly praised the socio-economic development of Bangladesh attained under Hasina’s leadership.

He said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is very much optimistic about Bangladesh as he has a special sympathy for the country as he had started his diplomatic assignment from Bangladesh.

Ban Ki-moon also highly lauded the role of the Bangladeshi peacekeepers in the UN Peace Keeping Missions.

Robert Watkins said Bangladesh’s role in achieving MDG targets as well as poverty reduction is unprecedented hoping that the country would move forward in the same path towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He also hoped that Bangladesh would be able to attain the Vision 2021 well before the stipulated time.