Bangladesh has asked Islamic countries to increase its engagement for ensuring a sustainable return and accountability framework for the Rohingyas.
The call was made by Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque at the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) senior officials meeting held in Jeddah on Sunday (Jan 20).
He opened the senior officials meeting by making a statement and handed over the Council of Foreign Minister (CFM) Chair to the head of delegation from the United Arab Emirates, says a press release.
Outlining the Bangladesh tenure at the CFM Chair, the foreign secretary highlighted a number of intergovernmental groups of experts (IGEs) chaired successfully by Bangladesh during last one year.
These IGEs included the formulation of a new mechanism on peace and dialogue to address Islamophobia, differences and tensions in the Islamic world.
Haque underlined that the issue of Palestine and that of the Rohingyas dominated the entire corpus of discussions of the OIC under Bangladesh chairmanship.
He stressed the need for a coordination meeting of the stakeholders to concretise the projects and programmes outlined in the OIC 2025 Programme of Action called the second OIC development plan.
Meanwhile, OIC Secretary-General Dr Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her historic victory and reiterated his hope that under the leadership of Hasina – Bangladesh will continue on its path to peace, development and progress.
The secretary-general made these remarks during his commencement statement at the senior officials meeting.
Othaimeen also expressed his felicitations during a call on him by foreign secretary Haque at Jeddah Sunday.
In the hour-long discussion, they discussed matters of common OIC interests and issues of bilateral importance.