Bangladesh on Sunday cautioned that if the Rohingya issue is not resolved immediately, radical elements can take advantage of the displacement and “regional and international security would certainly be jeopardised”.
Bangladesh requested the Philippines to exert political pressure on Myanmar together with all ASEAN members to take back the Rohingyas.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen made the request through Ambassador of the Philippines Vicente Vivencio T. Bandillo on Sunday.
At the meeting, the Forign Minister sought Philippines’ support on voluntary and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine State, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dr Momen noted that the Philippines enjoys close ties with Myanmar that the latter should leverage its influence to resolve the Rohingya crisis.
To allay the fear of the Rohingyas, he said, Bangladesh has long been proposing formation of an ASEAN-led nonmilitary civilian observer group but Myanmar is not coming forward positively to implement this proposal.
Terming the Philippines as a global leader in the services sector, particularly nursing, marine engineering and seafaring, Foreign Minister said Bangladesh is keen to sign the pending MoU on nursing education with the Philippines as early as possible and initiate exchange programmes of student and staff nurses between the two countries.
The Ambassador assured the minister of doing the needful for completing the MoU soon.❐
