Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to form a joint panel to oversee the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state to Bangladesh in recent weeks.
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister, Abul Hassan Ali, told newsmen after a meeting in Dhaka with U Kyaw Tint Swe, Myanmar’s Union Minister for the office of the state counsellor, on Monday: “Myanmar proposed the return of the Rohingya refugees.”
According to him, they have also agreed to form a joint working group to oversee the repatriation process.
Ali added that Bangladesh handed the draft of the bilateral agreement to Myanmar for possible repatriation process.
Tint Swe arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day for discussions on the Rohingya crisis with Bangladeshi officials, amid mounting global pressure about the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in restive Rakhine state.
An estimated 507,000 Rohingya Muslims crossed the border into Bangladesh’s south-eastern Cox’s Bazar district after Burmese military launched a crackdown on suspected Muslim insurgents in Rakhine on August 25.
Ali said that the both sides were working on three bilateral agreements, including one for border management between the two neighbours.
“Bangladesh’s home minister will soon visit Myanmar for a discussion about the border management proposal,” he added.
However, the Myanmar minister did not address the media after the meeting.
dpa/NAN.
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
