Indonesia backs Bangladesh’s SEACO initiative

Bangladesh has won the support of Indonesia to proceed with its planned South and South-East Asian Cooperation (SEACO) initiative which will be launched in Dhaka in June.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam is leading a four-member delegation to Jakarta.

He had a “fruitful” meeting with Foreign Minister of Indonesia Rento Marsudi on Friday and garnered their “spontaneous support” for the initiative, the foreign ministry said.

He also handed over a formal letter of invitation to the Indonesian Foreign Minister for the upcoming conference in Dhaka.

The Rohingya issue also figured prominently in the discussion and they agreed over the enhanced role of ASEAN countries in the repatriation of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh.

The state minister reviewed the present status of Rohingya repatriation and briefed the Indonesian minister about the outcome of the latest Joint Working Group Meeting (JWG) in Nay Pyi Taw.

Marsudi said that “a comprehensive response team of ASEAN will soon visit the Rakhine and Cox’s Bazar to prepare a comprehensive needs assessment”, the foreign ministry said.

The delegation also met the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) and Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).

SEACO is a private sector and track-II level Forum of five OIC countries in the region- Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Maldives with an objective of advancing regional economic integration.

The Forum will be the modelled after the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) and will function with the exclusive agenda of economic cooperation among the member countries and their neighborhoods.

Bangladesh has formed the initiative and will host SEACO’s launching conference in Dhaka towards the end of June, 2019. The foreign ministers of the member states along with the public and private stakeholders are expected to attend the programme, the foreign ministry said.