Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is hopeful that Bangladesh will achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) just as it has reached the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Hasina, currently in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, exchanged Eid greetings with Bangladeshi expatriates.
 
“I believe anything can be achieved if there’s self-confidence. Sighs and lamentations don’t yield anything.  That’s why we are moving ahead with confidence,” she said at the reception organised by the Bangladesh mission in New York at the LaGuardia Marriott Hotel on Thursday (US local time).
 
This year marks the end of the MDGs. World leaders will meet in New York from Sep 25 to 27 to formulate the new SDGs for the next 15 years.

The Eid-ul-Azha is being celebrated on Friday in Bangladesh, but Muslims in the US observed it on Thursday.
 
“The Ganabhaban is open for all on the Eid day; everyone comes to exchange greetings. This year that’s not happening. But I am celebrating with you (expatriates); that’s also something,” Hasina told the gathering.
 
The prime minister expressed her condolences over the death of Hajj pilgrims in a stampede

“Four Bangladesh nationals are said to be among those killed. My condolences for them. We have representatives in Saudi Arabia. They are constantly in touch with the Saudi authorities,” said Hasina.
 
 Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Local Government Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, prime minister’s ICT advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy also attended the programme.
 
Bangladesh ambassador in US Mohammad Ziauddin , Permanent Representative to the UN AKA Momen, Consul General of the Bangladesh Mission Shamim Ahsan and  members of the prime minister’s entourage were also present.

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