Cabinet sits in first meeting at Cabinet Division

The first cabinet meeting under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman began on Wednesday afternoon at the Cabinet Division in the Bangladesh Secretariat.

The meeting started at 3:00pm, sources at the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Earlier in the day, Tarique visited the Secretariat for the first time as prime minister. For more than a decade, most cabinet and secretaries’ meetings had been held at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Following the cabinet meeting, another meeting of secretaries was scheduled to begin at 4:00pm.

Through these engagements, the new prime minister formally began work at his designated office at the Secretariat.

No special agenda was reported for either meeting. Officials said the discussions were likely to be largely introductory and that the head of government might provide guidance in line with his party’s election manifesto.

Tarique and members of the new cabinet, including ministers and state ministers, took the oath on Tuesday afternoon. Later that night, the Cabinet Division issued a gazette notification allocating portfolios among the cabinet members.