Istanbul urges D-8 nations to share burden with Dhaka
The D-8 member states have assured their political and humanitarian support for sustainable solution for Rohingya issue which has created humanitarian crisis in Bangladesh.
The assurance was given at the ninth D-8 Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the chair, according to a message received here last night.
The D-8 (a grouping of eight developing nations) member states termed the exodus of Rohingya people fleeing Rakhine State of Myanmar "an ethnic cleansing" and put emphasis on smooth repatriation of the forcibly displaced Myanmar citizens, and on ensuring their rights.
President Erdogan appreciated Bangladesh's admirable role and initiative to shelter them.
He called upon all to share the burden of Bangladesh, and expressed interest in building shelters for Rohingyas along with establishment of health camps.
The D-8 leaders, however, laid emphasis on the implementation of Kofi Anan Commission Report on Rohingyas for resolving the crisis.
Bangladeshi State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, who led a six-member delegation in the summit, briefed the D-8 nations on Bangladesh's "open door policy" towards the dispossessed Rohingyas and highlighted the five-point formula presented by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the last UNGA for bringing a lasting solution.
He sought their continued support for an action oriented UN Security Council resolution.
Pointing out slow progress of the organisation of the eight most populous Muslim countries of one billion people, Shahriar stressed the need for trade and investment cooperation and called for full implementation of D-8 Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with deeper concessions on a wide basket of tradable products.
The summit, held with the theme "Expanding Opportu-nities through Cooperation", adopted two outcome documents, D-8 Istan-bul Declaration 2017, and the D-8 Istanbul Plan of Action 2017.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, presidents of Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Guinea, prime minister of Pakistan and vice president of Indonesia were also present.
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