Bangladesh believes that peace and security in Asia can be achieved through dialogue and cooperation, where all states coexist peacefully and their people live in peace, freedom and prosperity, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said on Thursday.
“We should carry forward the solidarity and cooperative spirit of helping each other in difficult times, promote the CICA agenda, enhance political and security dialogues and cooperation, and strengthen mutual trust, so as to make Asia a harmonious region of lasting peace and common prosperity,” he said while speaking at the Special Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
Dr Momen said this pandemic proves us that it is neither stockpiles of weapons nor building up of walls can save human life.
“Therefore, it is time to direct resources to health and social sectors. COVID comes with its multifaceted impacts on our lives, including severe disruptions to societies and economies.
“The crisis, however, has manifested devastating but differentiated impacts on segments of the population, as it would hit hardest the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.”
The foreign minister said: “We were concerned that the Covid-19 might badly affect 1.1 million Rohingyas, the displaced people of Myanmar, that live in a highly congested area inside Bangladesh. Fortunately, the minimum got affected due to multiple targeted initiatives.”
“Despite the threat to our economy, ecology, and overall societal impact, Bangladesh gave shelter, on a humanitarian ground, to nearly 1.1 million persecuted people fleeing massacre in Myanmar, their homeland. Bangladesh is keen on solving the crisis through constructive diplomacy with good neighbourly spirit.
“Myanmar is our friendly country and, therefore, Bangladesh signed 3 instruments with Myanmar for repatriation. Myanmar agreed to take them back after verification. They also agreed to create a conducive environment for their voluntary repatriation and they agreed to ensure safety and security of the displaced people. But unfortunately till today, none went back and instead of creating a conducive environment, fighting and shelling is ongoing in the Rakhine state.”
He said: “Our fear is that, if this problem persists, it may lead to pockets of radicalism and since terrorists have no borders, no faith, there’s a high possibility of creation of uncertainty in the region which may frustrate our hope for a peaceful, secure and stable region.
“Because of lack of confidence buildings and trust deficits between persecuted Rohingya and Myanmar government not a single Rohingya went back to Myanmar.
“To improve confidence buildings, we suggested many options to Myanmar, for example, ‘go and visit’, Myanmar would allow Rohingya leaders to visit Rakhine province or allowing non- military civilian observers from Myanmar’s friendly countries like ASEAN+, or China, Russia or India or any country of their choice so that Rohingya feel assured of their safety and security.
“Alternately, we requested Myanmar officials to come and talk to their displaced Rohingya for confidence building, unfortunately Myanmar is yet to respond to our suggestions.
“In this confidence building conference of CICA, you will agree with me that it is time for Myanmar to interact with their displaced people for confidence building measures for meaningful and durable solutions.
“Secondly, Myanmar’s stability and economic growth could be negatively affected if the Rohingya problem is not resolved. This problem has been created by Myanmar and the solution also lies with Myanmar.
“Bangladesh is one of only two Asian economies to register positive growth in 2020, despite a global recession that is shaping up to be historic in scale. The economy faced tremendous challenges between April and June this year. The worst has passed us. From a GDP growth perspective, the second quarter of the year was probably the worst for all countries,” the foreign minister also said.
