Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali expressed his gratitude to Japanese Foreign Minister Taro KONO for their support in adoption of Statement (PRST) by the President of the United Nations Security Council on 06 November 2017 which condemned widespread violence in Rakhine state and displacement of over 6,00,000 people, human rights violation and abuse. Taro KONO, who is on official visit in Bangladesh, had a bilateral meeting today with Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali. Taro KONO assured that Japan will support return of displaced Myanmar nationals back to their homeland.
Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali said that Bangladesh and Myanmar are in the process of negotiation for a bilateral agreement for repatriation of displaced people and expecting to form a Joint Working Group to facilitate the repatriation. He further said that as a short term measure, Japan will extend humanitarian assistance of 15 million US$ for the displaced people affected by the destabilization of the situation in Rakhine state.
During the meeting, major issues of bilateral and regional interests were discussed. Japanese Foreign Minister expressed gratitude to the Government of Bangladesh for the security measures undertaken for the implementation of mega projects of Japanese Overseas Development Assistance (ODA). Taro KONO said that 600 billion JPY (Japanese Yen) that was committed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during Hon’ble Prime Minister’s visit to Japan in May 2014 to finance mega projects in Bangladesh are being implemented. He further assured that Japan will continue to be a development partner of Bangladesh in its course to become a middle income country by 2021.
Later, Japanese Foreign Minister and Bangladesh Foreign Minister A. H. Mahmood Ali went together to Cox’s Bazar to visit the camps of the displaced people. State Minister Md. Shahriar Alam, Foreign Secretary Md. Shahidul Haque accompanied them. Japanese Foreign Minister was keen to see for himself the humanitarian crisis situation that displaced people are going through in Bangladesh-Myanmar border area.