Myanmar international affairs minister Kyaw Tin has said his country is committed to take back their people, the Rohingyas, under the agreement signed between Naypyidaw and Dhaka in 2017 regarding the repatriation of the forcefully displaced people from Bangladesh to Rakhine.
Besides, he said, Myanmar is sincere in peaceful coexistence and resolving bilateral issues with its neighboring countries, including Bangladesh, through mutual partnership.
Tin made the remarks recently in a letter written to Bangladesh foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, a foreign ministry press release said here today.
Tin mentioned that Myanmar had taken back Rohingyas in 1978 and 1992 through mutual discussion with Bangladesh.
The Myanmar minister thanked Momen for his letter written to him on January 1.
He echoed with Dr Momen that collaboration and cooperation are needed among the nation in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Momen and Kyaw Tin have good relations since both of them had served their respective countries as the permanent representative in the United Nations.
On January 19 last, a virtual secretary level tripartite meeting among Bangladesh, China and Myanmar was held to discuss about commencing repatriation of Rohingyas.
After the meeting, Bangladesh foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen said Dhaka is ‘cautiously optimistic’ to start much-demanded Rohingya repatriation from 2nd quarter of this year as Naypyidaw showed its flexibility to take back their nationals during the tripartite talk.
Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million forcefully displaced Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar district and most of them arrived there since August 25, 2017 after a military crackdown by Myanmar, which the UN called a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” by other rights groups.
In last three years, Myanmar did not take back a single Rohingya while the attempts of repatriation failed twice due to trust deficit among the Rohingyas about their safety and security in the Rakhine state.
