Rohingya Repatriation: Dhaka seeks proactive role of ASEAN

Bangladesh Ambassador to Myanmar Md Monwar Hossain has expressed his hope that the ASEAN Chair will continue to play a further positive role to facilitate repatriation of more than 1 million displaced Rohingyas to their homeland.

The Rohingyas fled from Rakhine state to Bangladesh in 2017 to escape a Myanmar crackdown on them.

     Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chairman Alounkeo Kittikhoun met with Ambassador Monwar Hossain at the Bangladesh Embassy in Yangon yesterday and discussed the areas of cooperation.

Kittikhoun was appointed as special envoy to Myanmar as Lao PDR assumes Chairmanship of ASEAN from January 1.

This is the first visit of the special envoy to Myanmar.

The special envoy, during the meeting, briefed the Ambassador of his meetings with the SAC Chairman, government officials and other stakeholders in Myanmar.

Alounkeo shared the ASEAN Chairman's views on the implementation of the five-point consensus, the issues related to the repatriation of the Rohingyas to Myanmar from Bangladesh.

The ambassador and the special envoy have agreed to closely working on the issue throughout 2024.

Kittikhoun is a Laotian diplomat who served as minister to the Prime Minister's Office during 2016-2020 and as Lao Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York during 1993-2007.