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“Bangladesh is an agriculture-based country. But at the same time, we must build industries and expand trade. If industries and businesses grow, employment opportunities will be created for our young people. They will be able to find jobs and engage in business activities,” he said.

The PM said the government has increased taxes on imported products that compete with locally manufactured goods to protect domestic industries.

“We have included such measures in this budget. Even this is not acceptable to the opposition,” he said.

Tarique said the people, not any political party or family, are the true owners of the country.

“I want to say that you are the owners of this country. No political party is the owner of the country; no family is the owner of the country. The owners of the country are its 20-crore people,” he said.

Before addressing the gathering, the PM formally launched the canal re-excavation work by digging soil with a spade and planting a sapling on the canal bank.

Highlighting the significance of the canal restoration project, he said re-excavating canals across the country would help boost agricultural production, improve water management and benefit rural communities.

Tarique said BNP believes in politics for the welfare of the people and that his government has already started implementing various election pledges to improve the lives of ordinary citizens.

He said the government has introduced initiatives such as the Family Card and Farmers’ Card programmes to support low-income families and farmers.

“We are standing beside farmers. We are standing beside ordinary people. Every commitment we made before the election is being implemented step by step,” he said.

The PM also formally inaugurated a nationwide programme to plant 25 crore trees over the next five years, aiming to strengthen environmental protection and address the impacts of climate change.

He inaugurated the programme, as promised in its electoral manifesto, by planting a Garjan sapling at Malumghat Reserved Forest in Dulahazara under PM Khali Union around 2:55pm.

In the afternoon, Tarique visited the grave of Wasim Akram, a martyr of the 2024 July uprising, in Cox’s Bazar’s Pekua. He offered fateha there, said PM’s Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Rumon.

Wasim, a second-year student at Chattogram College and a member of the Chhatra Dal’s college unit, was killed on July 16, 2024, during clashes between protesters and police in Chattogram.

Later, the PM met Wasim’s family members and enquired about their wellbeing. As a gesture of support, he handed over savings certificates worth Tk 20 lakh to his mother.

Tarique, along with his wife Zubaida Rahman, also visited Dulahazara Safari Park in Cox’s Bazar during his daylong tour of the district.