<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday urged the country’s youths to come forward to boost agricultural production and improve livelihood of the rural people through cooperatives.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“We think cooperatives are absolutely essential for our agricultural production, life and livelihood of people as cooperatives create enormous scopes for us in a densely populated country like ours. Paying attention to it, youths will have to strengthen cooperatives,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The premier was addressing a function, arranged to mark the 51st National Cooperative Day-2022 and distribute the National Cooperative Award-2021 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC), joining it through a virtual platform from her official residence Ganabhaban.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina stressed the need for giving utmost importance to cooperatives for the development of the country’s people.</div><div><br></div><div>“Our young generation have to come forward. If the young generation comes forward and conducts activities through cooperatives uniting all the people of a village, we’ll be able to go forward much,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The PM said her government has been working for the people and wants to create scopes so that every individual can improve their life and livelihood.</div><div><br></div><div>She said her government opened every sector for private entrepreneurs so that employment is created.</div><div><br></div><div>Talking about inflation, Sheikh Hasina said prices of all commodities have soared throughout the world due to the Russia-Ukraine war and Covid-19, which affected Bangladesh also. “Now almost all the countries are now suffering due to high inflation.”</div><div><br></div><div>She said now Bangladesh needs to procure fertilizers, fuel and edible oil at very high prices amid high transportation costs for the sake of people and keep the agricultural production uninterrupted.</div><div><br></div><div>With the theme of “the Philosophy of Bangabandhu is Development through Cooperatives,” the day is being observed in the country this year.</div><div><br></div><div>On behalf of the PM, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Tazul Islam handed over the National Cooperative Award-2021 to nine cooperative societies and an individual under 10 categories for their contributions to the sector. Each awardee was conferred with a gold medal and a certificate.</div><div><br></div><div>State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Swapan Bhattacharjee presided over the function, while Rural Development and Cooperatives Secretary Mashiur Rahman and Director General of Cooperatives Department Dr Tarun Kanti Sikder spoke on the occasion. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>