Foreign Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain said Bangladesh will press the international community to find out ways and means to repatriate over 1.3 million Rohingya refugees in the upcoming Bangkok meeting on Myanmar crisis.
Thailand will host two regional meetings on Myanmar this week, with at least one including representatives of the junta.
Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa will hold the meetings on Dec 19 and 20. In October, Thailand offered to host informal talks with representatives from Myanmar, China, India, Bangladesh, Laos and Thailand. All of this countries share borders with Myanmar and are set to attend the meeting.
"We know that it cannot be done overnight, but we need a solution," Mr Touhid said.
He also responded to a question on whether the foreign ministry will protest the comments Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made on his X (formerly known as Twitter) handle on the occasion of Bangladesh's Victory Day.
"Different individuals may have different reactions but the foreign ministry will react in its own way," the foreign adviser said about the post.
Modi referred to Dec 16 as 'Victory Day' and also said it was 'India's historic victory in 1971', without mentioning Bangladesh's War of Liberation and praised only Indian soldiers who contributed in the war.
Meanwhile, during the Seventh CICA Ministerial Council Meeting held virtually on Tuesday in Baku, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh's foreign adviser called for robust cooperation among the member states in his speech.
Referring to war, conflict, climate change and natural disasters as threats to human survival, the foreign adviser urged the leaders to explore meaningful methods to address these challenges and to continue dialogue -- based on compassion and solidarity to bring peace, stability and collective security in the pan-Asian region and beyond.
Highlighting Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) as a dynamic platform for confidence building among the nation through cooperation, the foreign adviser commended CICA's impact in addressing and minimising multiple threats and in harnessing benefits in economic, environment and human dimensions.
He reiterated Bangladesh's readiness to contribute to CICA, especially in its role as co-chairs of CICA resolutions on information technology, natural disaster and environmental protection. CICA, a multi-national forum of 28 countries, was established in 1992 for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. Bangladesh became member of CICA in 2014.
During the meeting, the present chair of CICA, Republic of Kazakhstan handed over the chairmanship to Azerbaijan for next two years. The Seventh Ministerial Council Meeting was attended by foreign ministers of CICA member states and heads of a few international organisations. The meeting also adopted the CICA Ministerial Council Statement on the 25th Anniversary of the declaration on the principles guiding the relations among CICA member states. Senior officials of the regional organisations wing of the foreign ministry were present at the meeting.
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