Bangladesh PM Hasina's 47-member new cabinet announced

Dhaka, Jan 6 (IANS) A 47-member new cabinet of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was announced on Sunday, Xinhua reported.Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told a press conference that the cabinet included 25 ministers, including Prime Minister Hasina, 19 ministers of state and three deputy ministers. According to the cabinet secretary, Hasina has inducted 31 new faces into her new cabinet.Members of the next cabinet, including the prime minister, are slated to take the oath at 3:30 p.m. local time on Monday at the President's Office.The announcement was made days after the 288 newly elected members of Bangladesh's parliament from Hasina's ruling coalition were sworn in amid an opposition boycott on Thursday.Seven MPs from ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led major opposition alliance skipped the oath-taking ceremony. Hasina's Awami League now forms its third five-year term government straight in a row since January 2009 after ruling the country from 1996-2001.
--IANS prs