Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh has called for stronger and more effective cooperation from ASEAN countries and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) States to resolve the ongoing Rohingya crisis.
The appeal was made during the 31st ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) held in Vientiane, the capital of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, on Saturday.
At the meeting, Md Rais Hasan Sarower, ndc, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized the critical role of ASEAN in addressing the crisis.
He urged ASEAN leaders and ARF Member States to support Bangladesh’s bid to become a Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN and to ensure the safe, sustainable, and dignified return of forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals from Bangladesh to their homeland in Myanmar.
Rais reiterated Bangladesh’s commitment to ARF activities aimed at promoting collective security, peace, and shared prosperity. Drawing on the foreign policy principle of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, “Friendship to all, malice towards none,” he called for stronger support from ASEAN countries.
On the sidelines of the 31st ARF SOM, Rais held bilateral meetings with Michelle Chan, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, and Dato’ Astanah Abdul Aziz, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN, to discuss issues of mutual interest.
The meeting was chaired by Thongphane Savanphet, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lao PDR, and attended by senior officials at the level of Foreign Secretaries and Ambassadors from 27 ARF Member States.
The ARF, known for its consensus-based decision-making and open dialogue, includes the 10 ASEAN member states (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam), 10 ASEAN Dialogue Partners (Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia, and the United States), as well as Bangladesh, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste.