Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali had attended a tripartite informal meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Myanmar Union Minister of the State Counsellor’s office Kyaw Tint Swe, during his Beijing visit last month.
The meeting took place on Jun 29 to exchange views and share ideas on early repatriation of the Rohingyas to Myanmar.
It was a last-minute call as the Chinese side informed the foreign office about the meeting when the Bangladeshi minister was about to leave for Beijing, said a government official.
“We accepted it as we wanted to engage with Myanmar and listen to their version straight from the horse’s mouth,” he said.
In the meeting, China and Myanmar both pushed for the commencement of Rohingya repatriation as soon as possible while Bangladesh emphasised on a conducive environment in Rakhine.
“The foreign minister expressed his desire to visit Rakhine in the meeting and it was immediately accepted by Myanmar,” said the official.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque said on Tuesday that the foreign minister would visit Rakhine soon to examine the conducive environment for Rohingya repatriation.
"He (FM) has taken an initiative to go to Rakhine to see himself about the conducive environment there," he said after attending a programme in Dhaka.
Haque said that the minister would see if the houses are rebuilt or not, and find out their freedom of mobility and other things.
“I believe if a conducive environment is created in Rakhine, repatriation will start soon,” he said.
Bangladesh is now home to 1.1 million Rohingyas after over 700,000 fled a military crackdown in Rakhine since Aug 25 last year.