Bangladesh slashes duties on vegetable imports
Bangladesh's tax collection body, the National Board of Revenue, has reduced taxes on imports of onion and potato to rein in soaring prices of essential kitchen items.
During her meeting with a UN Security Council delegation, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina highlights her expectations from India, China, Russia and Japan; UN team to now visit Rakhine to understand the depth of the Rohingya crisis
Rohingya refugees hold placards to members of UN Security Council team during their visit to a refugee camp in Bangladesh. (Photo: AFP)
Bangladesh has expressed hope India will help it solve the Rohingya crisis.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met a UN Security Council delegation in her office on Monday, and according to reports in the Bangladesh media, she highlighted her expectations from India and other countries during the meeting.
She reportedly said the country expected India, China, Russia and Japan to play a major role in solving the crisis concerning the Rohingya refugees who came to Bangladesh after fleeing Rakhine state in Myanmar to escape a military crackdown on their villages last August.
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A 40-member panel from 15 member countries of the UN Security Council visited the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar on Sunday. The team departed for Myanmar after meeting the PM on Monday.
The UN representatives led by Security Council President Gustavo Adolfo Mesa Kuadra Velasquez will visit the Myanmar capital of Nay Pyi Taw and also go to areas in Rakhine state to understand the depth of the Rohingya crisis.
According to an IANS report, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs puts the overall population of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in Bangladesh at over 1 million.
While nearly 7 lakh refugees arrived in Bangladesh after Rohingya militants launched a deadly attack on the Myanmar government forces in Rakhine on August 25, 2017, Chief UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Friday 8,000 new refugees had arrived since January.
“The government and people of Bangladesh have displayed extraordinary generosity toward Rohingya refugees, with support by the international community,” Xinuha news agency quoted him as saying.
“The latest round of food distribution reached over 470,000 people. Over 5,000 tube wells and 47,000 latrines have been built, and more than 90,000 children have received primary school education,” Dujarric said.
He also praised humanitarian partners who are making efforts towards strengthening the preparedness for the upcoming monsoon season.
The Rohingyas are ethnic Muslims living in the Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Most of the refugees do not have Myanmar citizenship.
Meanwhile, during the meeting with UN Security Council, Hasina said there should be negotiations with China, India, Thailand, Laos and other neighbouring countries of Myanmar to solve the Rohingya crisis.
“The prime minister also urged the international community to put strong pressure on Myanmar to take back Rohingyaas,” Bangladesh PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim told reporters after the meeting.
Hasina also said Myanmar should follow the agreement it had signed with Bangladesh on the repatriation of Rohingya refugees.
READ | India fears mass influx as monsoon threatens Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh camp
In the face of criticism from the international community, the Myanmar government had signed a contract with Bangladesh in December to take back these refugees. There has been no progress on this front.
Meanwhile, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said the Rohingya influx was a serious common security challenge for the entire region.
“Bangladesh has engaged itself to address the issue. They have taken up the issue with the UN. The Bangladesh government is also working through multilateral agencies besides bilateral negotiations with Myanmar,” Shringla told IANS in an interview.
“This is a humanitarian crisis even though the issue posed a common security challenge not only for Bangladesh but for all the countries of the region,” he said.
Shringla was in Agartala on Thursday where he met Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, Governor Tathagata Roy and other senior officials.
The envoy discussed various issues like connectivity, people-to-people contact, hassle-free movement of Indians to Bangladesh, trade and economic activities.
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