Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Thursday called upon the international community to find an urgent and durable solution to the Rohingya crisis in its place of origin in Myanmar.
Noting that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave 1.2 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals shelter in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds”, the President said, “Despite it was the 7th year of the crisis, there was no solution in sight.”
“Bangladesh is pushed to the limits; any further delay in commencing safe, voluntary and sustainable repatriation might put the entire region at a security risk.” Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin warned the world leaders while delivering a speech in the 18th East Asia Summit on Thursday in Jakarta, Indonesia.
As the Chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), President Mohammad Shahabuddin spoke at the inaugural ceremony of the Summit along with Summit Chair Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia, and Prime Minister Mark Brown of Cook Island, who is the Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum.
Leaders from the Southeast Asia region and around the world including India, Japan and the USA, among others, also attended the Summit.
President Mohammad Shahabuddin in his speech reiterated Bangladesh’s aspiration to enhance the country’s relations with the ASEAN and to institutionalise it by becoming a Sectoral Dialogue Partner.
“Bangladesh and ASEAN could benefit in areas such as trade, investment, transnational security, climate change through increased political, security, economic and people-to-people cooperation,” the President added.
He welcomed the newly concluded memorandum of understanding between IORA and ASEAN terming it an important mechanism to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation.
Mentioning Bangladesh’s contributions in preparing the IORA Outlook on Indo-Pacific, the President underscored that IORA’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific region would immensely contribute to building a resilient regional and global value chain.
In his opening remarks, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, reminded that all concerned had the responsibility to create peace, stability and prosperity in the region.
“We all have the same responsibility not to create new conflicts, not to create new tensions, not to create new wars,” said the Indonesian President.
Indonesia’s Prime Minister Cook also emphasised on regional stability and underscored the need for nurturing regional cooperation and collective strength of nations.
The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a regional forum held annually alongside the annual ASEAN leaders' summit with ASEAN playing the central role and leadership. Its membership includes countries mostly from the East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asian and Oceania regions. The EAS plays an important role in the regional architecture of Asia-Pacific. President Mohammed Shahabuddin attended the 18th East Asia Summit at the invitation of the Summit Chair, President Joko Widodo.
