Rohingya repatriation must occur as quickly as possible: Malaysia

Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah has stressed voluntary and safe return of Rohingyas and said the “repatriation must occur as quickly as possible”.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 7 July 2019, 03:40 PM
Updated : 7 July 2019, 04:51 PM

He made the comments after his meeting with Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Sunday at the state guesthouse Padma.

Momen said they discussed many issues including Rohingya and “we echoed the same – accountability and repatriation of Rohingya”.

Abdullah came to Dhaka on Saturday on a three-day ‘working visit’. He visited the Malaysian Field Hospital and several Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar on Sunday.

The Malaysian foreign ministry said this visit will provide “an opportunity to strengthen the existing warm and friendly relations between both countries”.

“It will also further boost the bilateral cooperation as well as to reaffirm Malaysia’s continued support to the Government of Bangladesh in providing humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya refugees."

After the bilateral meeting, Momen said they talked about trade and investment in a cordial and friendly environment. “We are very happy and thankful that he made a trip to Bangladesh”.

The Malaysian minister Abdullah said he expressed gratitude of his government to Bangladesh for giving them shelter.

“We are trying our level best to convince Myanmar. We are hoping before the end of the year there will be a proper and comprehensive plan for repatriation.”

He said Malaysia was also “critical” to the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management’s (AHA Centre) work on Rohingyas.

“We hope Aha Center will be able to come up with a more comprehensive plan of action by the end of the year and that is also acceptable to Rohingyas.

Abdullah said Malaysia is working in the context of ASEAN.

The new Malaysian government has stopped taking Bangladeshi workers soon after assuming office last year.

The visiting minister said their new administration is working on “improving the recruitment process and looking at salary and welfare issues”.

He appreciated the “diligent” work of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia, but did not give details about the possible recruitment.

“I cannot speak on behalf of my colleague,” he said, referring to the Malaysian human resources ministry.

The Bangladesh foreign minister, however, hoped that the market will be opened by August.

Momen also expected that the nonagenarian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed will be able to visit Bangladesh by this year or the early next year.

The two-way trade in 2018 was worth $2.37 billion, an increase of 35.4 percent from $1.75 billion in 2017.

From January to April 2019, trade increased by 2.7 percent to $793.1 million compared with $771.5 million for the same period in 2018, according to the Malaysian foreign ministry.

Among South Asian countries, Bangladesh is Malaysia’s second largest trading partner.