Bangladesh on Wednesday reaffirmed its stand to restart the repatriation of tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees awaiting Myanmar’s initiatives to return to their homeland.
“Rohingyas are your citizens and it is your concern to take them back in Myanmar from Bangladesh,” a foreign ministry official quoted Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni as saying while Myanmar Ambassador Myo Myint Than called on her at her office here.
The official said Dipu Moni made it clear that Myanmar has to take back Rohingya refugees, who are estimated to be as high as half a million, in order to strengthen bilateral relationship and
building trust between the two neighbors.
She, however, assured Myanmar envoy that Bangladesh would offer full assistance to reinitiate the repatriation process that has remained stalled for many years. She also expressed satisfaction on the steady growth of relations between the two countries.
Official statistics show nearly 30,000 ‘documented’ as well as the 450,000 ‘undocumented’ Myanmar Rohingya refugees have been awaiting their repatriation to Rakhine since the mass exodus of Rohingyas to Bangladesh in early nineties in order to evade persecution.
The foreign minister also looked back to the history and said Rohingyas used to live in then Myanmar’s Arakan (now Rakhine) state as Burmese citizen and they still prefer to be identified as Myanmar nationals. She urged Myanmar to solve the refuge problem and look into new and potential areas of cooperation for mutual benefit.
Dipu Moni urged the envoy to procure Bangladesh medicines and cosmetics to increase the trade, while negotiations could be started for energy cooperation and physical connectivity.
The Foreign Minister hoped that the forthcoming visit of the President of Myanmar to Bangladesh would take place after the Ramadan and it will set yet another milestone in the bilateral relations of Bangladesh and Myanmar. She also appreciated the steps taken by Myanmar Government in containing violence in Rakhine State.
In response, Myanmar Ambassador thanked Bangladesh government for the cooperation extended to Myanmar in dealing with the Rakhine State problem. The Ambassador expressed his Government’s intention to take back the refugees and undocumented Myanmar nationals after verification.
Source : BSS @rrajowan
