Dhaka, Oct 5 (UNB) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Saturday agreed on the need to expedite “safe, speedy and sustainable” repatriation of Rohingyas to their homes in the Rakhine State of Myanmar.
They agreed on the need for “greater efforts” to be made to facilitate their return, including by improving security situation and socio-economic conditions in Rakhine.
The two leaders discussed the issue at a bilateral meeting held at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas and most of them entered Cox’s Bazar since august 25, 2017.
Two repatriation attempts went unsuccessful amid lack of required conditions in Rakhine State and Myanmar’s failure to remove “trust-deficit” among Rohingyas.
Prime Minister Hasina conveyed the gratitude of the government of Bangladesh for the humanitarian assistance provided by India since September 2017 to help meet the needs of the displaced persons from Myanmar, according to a joint statement issued on the official visit of Prime Minister Hasina to India.
Prime Minister Modi appreciated Bangladesh’s generosity in sheltering and providing humanitarian assistance to forcibly displaced persons from the Rakhine State of Myanmar.
India will supply a fifth tranche of humanitarian assistance to support the government of Bangladesh’s humanitarian efforts to shelter the Rohingyas in temporary camps in Cox’s Bazar, reads the 53-point joint statement.
This tranche of aid will comprise tents, relief and rescue material as well as one thousand sewing machines for the skill development of forcibly displaced women from Myanmar.
In addition, India has completed a first project to build 250 houses in Rakhine state of Myanmar, and is now preparing to implement another set of socio-economic development projects in the area.
Partners in Region, World
The two Prime Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to work closely in the UN and other multilateral organisations.
They also reaffirmed their commitment to work together particularly in the international arena, to call upon developed countries to fulfill their commitments on the means of implementation as enshrined in the Agenda 2030.
Both leaders agreed that Regional and sub-regional cooperation is a priority area for the two countries.
Towards this goal, they agreed to streamline the activities of Bimstec to make it an effective vehicle for sub-regional cooperation to achieve the aim of collective prosperity of all member countries.
At the invitation of Prime Minister Modi, Prime Minister Hasina paid an official visit to India. Apart from her official engagements in New Delhi, Prime Minister Hasina was also invited as the chief guest at the India Economic Summit organized by the World Economic Forum on October 3-4.
