Britain lauds Bangladesh's 'extraordinary' response to Rohingya refugee crisis

The British Minister of State for International Development Alistair Burt has said Bangladesh’s response to the Rohingya crisis has been “extraordinary”.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 29 August 2018, 08:37 PM
Updated : 29 August 2018, 08:37 PM

He met State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam at his office on Wednesday.

The UK minister was debriefing his Bangladesh counterpart on his visit to the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazaar on Wednesday, the second day of his three-day visit to Bangladesh.

Burt expressed satisfaction at the “noticeably improved” physical infrastructure in the camps, including strong coordination between different UN and other agencies, the foreign ministry said.

He also deeply appreciated the sacrifices made by the host community in welcoming and sharing scarce resources and opportunities with the Rohingya people.

Burt welcomed the Fact-Finding Mission report published by the United Nations. He said the ‘severity of the report’ will be a big test for the international community on how they would respond to the accountability aspects of the Rohingya crisis, including sustainable repatriation of more than one million Rohingyas who want to go back to Myanmar.

He hoped that the Fact-Finding Mission report would help ‘change’ the current level of consensus at the international level, particularly at the UN Security Council, for sustainable solution to the crisis.

Shahriar thanked the British government for its support during the Rohingya crisis, including playing a 'strong role' at the UN Security Council.

He hoped the next UN General Assembly would provide an opportunity to carry forward the international efforts to find concrete ways to resolve this protracted crisis.

The two ministers also discussed the general elections in Bangladesh that will take place later in 2018 or early 2019.

The British minister hoped the elections would be join by all parties.

Shahriar expressed his pleasure at Britain's continued assistance in Bangladesh's socio-economic development.