The four newly appointed ministers and two state ministers, who joined the cabinet on Friday, were assigned their respective portfolios late Friday night, according to a gazette notification.

Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan has been given charge of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, while Andaleeve Rahman Partho has been appointed Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

Rashiduzzaman Millat has been assigned responsibility for the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, while Saching Prue has been appointed Minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs.

Afroza Khanam, who previously served as the Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, has been moved to the Ministry of Food.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Humaiun Kobir has been appointed State Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Gaibandha-4 lawmaker Mohammad Shamim Kaiser Lincoln has been given the position of State Minister for Religious Affairs.

The appointments came after President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir administered the oath of office to the newly inducted ministers and state ministers at the Darbar Hall of Bangabhaban at 7:45pm on Friday.

The latest appointments mark an expansion of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s cabinet six months after his government was formed, bringing five new members into the Council of Ministers.

Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani conducted the oath-taking ceremony at Bangabhaban.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman took the oath of office on February 17 after his party secured victory in the February 12 parliamentary election.

Following the election victory, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman formed the incumbent government with a 49-member cabinet, including the prime minister himself, while 25 other ministers and 23 state ministers took oath on the same day.

With the latest induction of new members, the size of the Council of Ministers has increased to 52. The expanded cabinet now comprises 27 ministers and 24 state ministers.

Meanwhile, five newly appointed ministers and state ministers on this day paid homage to Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital.

They placed wreaths at their graves at Zia Udyan in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital this noon.

The ministers and the state ministers offered Fateha and prayers, seeking the eternal peace of the departed souls of Ziaur Rahman and Khaleda Zia.

Among those who paid tribute were Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives Minister Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister M Rashiduzzaman Millat, Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Minister Saching Prue Jerry. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir and State Minister for Religious Affairs Mohammad Shamim Kaiser Lincoln.

Earlier in the morning, they paid deep homage to the martyrs of the Liberation War at the National Memorial in Savar.