Hasina seeks global support to relocate Rohingyas to Noakhali Meets German Chancellor in Munich

News desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday sought support from the international community to temporarily relocate Myanmar nationals living in Bangladesh to Thengar Char in Noakhali for providing them with all facilities.

She said this when German Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted to know about the present situation of the Myanmar nationals during a bilateral meeting with her at Hotel Bayerischer in Munich.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said the PM informed the German chancellor that the Myanmar nationals were currently leading a miserable life in Cox's Bazar and its adjacent areas without any proper civic amenities, including sanitation.

“That's why the government wants to relocate them temporarily to another place to provide them with better facilities,” the PM said.

Hasina said a huge number of Myanmar nationals, who entered Bangladesh illegally, have been staying in Cox's Bazar which is a tourist spot. “This largely affected the environment of the area and the country's tourism sector,” she added.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam recently announced that the Myanmar refugees would be rehabilitated temporarily as they would be repatriated to Myanmar.

Some 70,000 Myanmar nationals have taken refuge in Cox's Bazar camps since October last year after being persecuted by the Myanmar military.

Hasina reiterated her government's “Zero Tolerance” policy against terrorism and militancy.

She mentioned that her government has been working to set up 100 special economic zones to speed up the country's industrialisation as well as to establish hi-tech parks. She said German companies could take the advantage of the project and set up new businesses there.

She apprised the German chancellor of the country's various achievements, particularly education, poverty reduction, gender parity and women empowerment.

Recalling with deep gratitude the contributions and support of Germany during the Liberation War in 1971, Hasina said Germany is a time-tested friend of Bangladesh.

She invited Merkel to visit Bangladesh. Accepting the invitation, the German leader said she would visit Dhaka at a mutually convenient time.

The German chancellor welcomed the PM to her country and highly appreciated Bangladesh's socio-economic progress achieved by Hasina's government.

Merkel hoped that the existing trade relations between the two countries would be strengthened further in future.

After the meeting, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two countries on implementation of the e-passport project to upgrade Bangladesh's current machine readable passport.

The two sides also signed a Joint Declaration of Intent to conduct a bilateral political exchange on counter terrorism issues.