Dhaka 16.03.18 ( Received from Geneva, 16 March 2018) : “In addition to providing humanitarian assistance to this displaced people of Myanmar, Bangladesh, as responsible and responsive nation, has also remained engaged with Myanmar in good faith to ensure their safe a sustainable return. " said the State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Shahriar Alam, MP at the Launching event of the " "Joint Response Plan  for Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis", organized by UNHCR, IOM and OCHA. The Joint Response Plan is the UN's effort to engage the international community to meet up the mammoth humanitarian needs for the over one million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh for the period of March-December 2018, estimated cost of which is around 951 million US dollar. The event was attended by large number of UN member countries as well as by international organizations.

IOM's Director General Ambassador William Lacy Swing, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo and Secretary-General of Bangladesh Red Crescent Society Feroz Salah Uddin   also addressed the occasion. Ambassador M Shameem Ahsan, Bangladesh's Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva, was present.

Providing a overview of Bangladesh Government's efforts so far for ensuring unhindered humanitarian assistance to the forcibly displaced Rohingya population from Myanmar, State Minister Alam underscored that Myanmar authorities have obligation, due to the bilateral agreements on return, to create conducive environment in Rakhine State and the international community including the UN has the responsibility to play a role in this regard. Recalling Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's emphasis on finding a solution in Myanmar where the root of the crisis lies, Bangladesh's State Foreign Minister further added that the present crisis is indeed the result of systematic persecution, discrimination and exclusionary policies pursued by the Myanmar authorities over decades. He expressed optimism that the Joint Response Plan would continue to get support and backing from friendly countries, international organizations and financial institutions.

In their interventions, the IOM DG, The High Commissioner and member states (the US, Canada, Brazil, UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Switzerland, Turkey, Thailand, Australia and Netherlands) as well as UN and international organizations (European Union, OIC, WFP, UNICEF, OHCHR, World Bank, WHO, UNFPA, FAO and UN-WOMEN)  expressed their thankfulness and high appreciation to the Government and people of Bangladesh for the generosity shown to the helpless Rohingyas and commended the ongoing huge humanitarian activities led by the Government. They also appreciated the Joint Response Plan formulated, as informed by the Resident Coordinator, in a inclusive manner by involving the Government, civil society and UN agencies in Bangladesh, and reiterated their commitment to continue to support the cause and the implementation of the Joint Response Plan.

In his concluding remarks, State Minister for Foreign Affairs underscored the importance of keeping international community's  focus on the Rohingya crisis for ensuring a comprehensive sustainable solution. He also separately held a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.