Bangladesh has requested China to do its utmost to encourage Myanmar to create a conducive environment for the speedier return of the displaced Rohingyas to their homeland in Rakhine.
The request was made when Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque and Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kong Xuanyou had foreign office consultation (FoC) meeting in Beijing on Thursday (Nov 8).
The foreign secretary noted that the crisis originated as a conflict between the Myanmar government and its own people and stressed that Myanmar should start taking back its people without further delay as per the agreement reached during the recently concluded Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting.
In reply the Chinese Vice Minister reiterated his country’s commitment to play a positive and constructive role in resolving the Rohingya crisis and appreciated the staunch political will of Bangladesh to resolve the crisis peacefully, says a foreign ministry media release.
The FoC outlined the future course of action to carry forward the ongoing works to translate into action the commitments reached by the top leaders of the countries.
The meeting specially focussed on progress of materialising the agreements reached during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Bangladesh in October 2016 and during the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to China in June 2014.
The foreign secretary also had a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday (Nov 9).
Bangladesh Ambassador to China Fazlul Karim and senior representatives from different ministries and departments of the governments of China and Bangladesh, including the Home Ministry, Ministries of Agriculture, Railways, Commerce, Industry, Economic Relations Division (ERD), Power Division and the ICT Division participated at the consultation.