EU to continue supporting Bangladesh to get Rohingya issue solved

The visiting European Parliament delegation has praised Bangladesh 'highly' for hosting the large number of Rohingya refuges and assured that EU and its parliament will continue to extend full supports to Bangladesh to solve the problem, the foreign ministry says.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 14 Feb 2018, 12:33 PM
Updated : 14 Feb 2018, 02:26 PM

The MPs have also assured that EU will remain by the side of Bangladesh in its way of transition from LDC to Middle Income Country status in the coming years.

The delegation met State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam on Wednesday at the State Guest House Padma.

Jean Lambert, Chair of the South Asia Delegation of the EU Parliamentary Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs is leading an 11-member MEP delegation, who also visited refugee camps in Cox's Bazar.

The groups include European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) Chair Pier Antonio Panzeri and members - Joachim Zeller, Soraya Post and Barbara Lochbiler.

Urmas Paet from the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and Marc Tarabella from the Delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (DASE) are also with the group.

Members of the Delegation for Relations with the countries of South Asia James Nicholson, Richard Corbet, Wajid Khan, and Sajjad Karim are also part of the delegation.

During the meeting, State Minister Alam expressed deep gratitude to the European Union and its parliament and people of European Union member states for raising strong voice against the oppression on Rohingya people by Myanmar military and for adopting Resolution in the European Parliament.

He also thanked EU for assistance to manage the forcefully displaced Rohingya people who took shelter in Bangladesh.

Alam requested the European Parliament delegation to encourage its member states to take further initiatives and keep pressure on Myanmar government to ensure peaceful and sustainable return of forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals from Bangladesh to their home in Rakhine state.

Besides they discussed the issues of bilateral cooperation, trade and investment and socioeconomic development in Bangladesh, the foreign ministry said.