The second meeting of Bangladesh-Myanmar Joint Working Group (JWG) on repatriation of Rohingyas going on at the state guest house Meghna in the capital on Thursday — Focus Bangla The joint working group (JWG) meeting on the repatriation of Rohingya refugees ended in the city Thursday without any breakthrough.
But the Bangladesh-Myanmar joint working group has agreed to 'work more' to find out a mechanism for jump-starting the repatriation.
Foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque and his Myanmar counterpart permanent secretary at the Myanmar foreign ministry Myint Thu led their respective sides in the five-hour long meeting held at the state guest house Padma in Dhaka.
Terming the meeting "very fruitful," the Myanmar foreign secretary said the meeting discussed the preparations on both sides for the repatriation.
"We are discussing all the relevant issues regarding the repatriation. We will work it out and we will be having more meetings," Myint Thu told reporters after the meeting. "Then we will set up the mechanism to take them back."
Bangladesh handed over a list of 8,032 individuals to Myanmar on February 16 to start the first phase of repatriation of Rohingyas to their homeland in the Rakhaine state of Myanmar but so far around 1,000 have been verified.
About the delay in the verification process, the Myanmar foreign secretary said his country was trying to accelerate the process.
"We are here for that. We are accelerating the process. We have to work it out," he said.
"We need to promote awareness among people about that and then we will provide information on that to Bangladesh," he added.
About the preparations for the repatriation, he said that both the countries are working hand in hand to complete the preparations based on the arrangement signed between the two countries.
"Then we will start the repatriation," he added.
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed two instruments over the repatriation, with the first one on 23 November and another on 16 January this year.
The agreements set a two-year deadline to complete the repatriation.
Bangladesh foreign secretary Shahidul Haque said the both sides discussed the progress of verification.
"They are doing it phase by phase. Both sides are working to expedite the repatriation process. We are hopeful," he said.
Around 0.7 million Rohingya have fled their homes in Rakhine in the face of brutal crackdown against them by Myanmar security forces since August 25.
Presently, Bangladesh is sheltering more one million Rohingya refugees who were forced out of their native land in Rakhine.
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