Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said the Rohingya issue will remain a priority one for the government mentioning that there should be an "obligation" for all neighbouring countries to make sure that the regional stability is protected. "I think this problem won't be solved easily. So, we've to overcome many hurdles," he told reporters at his office.

Emphasising the importance of stability and development in the country and beyond, the Foreign Minister said if stability prevails, development will take place and everyone will be benefited from it (stable atmosphere).

The government withdrew all value added taxes and supplementary duties imposed against every SIM card replacement through the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service. The Internal Resources Division of the Finance Ministry published a gazette notification exempting the MNP services from all taxes on several conditions.

The MNP is a service through which customers can switch from one mobile operator to another mobile while keeping their number unchanged. On October 17, 2018, the government reduced the taxes for MNP service to Tk 57.50 from Tk 157.50 after only 17 days of imposition of such taxes.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said Jatiya Oikyafront will join the proposed talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina if election-centric agenda is fixed. "We don't know what will be the agenda of the talks. Our only agenda is to have the election revoked. Jatiya Oikyafront will consider joining the dialogue if election-centric agenda is fixed," he said while talking to reporters after offering fateha at the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal (R).

Fakhrul, also the spokesman of Oikyafront, said the December-30 election must be annulled and the current 'incompetent' Election Commission will have to be reconstituted to hold a fresh national election under a non-party neutral government.

HT Imam, Dr Mashiur Rahman, Dr Gowher Rizvi, Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and Major Gen (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique have been reappointed advisers to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The Cabinet Division issued a gazette notification in this regard on January 14. As per the notification, all the advisers were entrusted with the same responsibilities they performed during the Prime Minister's immediate past tenure.

HT Imam will continue to serve as Political Affairs Adviser to the PM while Dr Mashiur Rahman as Economic Affairs Adviser, Dr Gowher Rizvi as International Affairs Adviser, Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury as Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Affairs Adviser and Major Gen (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique as Security Affairs Adviser.