‘Rohingya crisis has potentials to destabilise entire region’
Staff Reporter :
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Saturday said the protracted Rohingya crisis has the potential to destabilise the whole region unless the international community intensifies their efforts to expedite sustainable repatriation of the 1.2 million forcibly displaced Rohingyas to their homeland.
“The Rohingya crisis has its origin in Myanmar but continues to weigh heavily on Bangladesh.
The crisis has the potential to destabilise the whole region unless the international community intensifies their efforts to eventuate the sustainable repatriation to their homeland Myanmar.
Fast and sustainable settlement of the crisis is a centerpiece to promote peace, security and stability in the region,” he said.
He said this at the international seminar on “Bangladesh Indo-Pacific Outlook: Opportunities and Way Forward” held at the BIISS Auditorium in the capital.
Regarding the geostrategic importance of Indo-Pacific region, he said, “It is home to some of the busiest sea lanes, important trade routes, and a diverse range of cultures and societies.
But the region is also facing a plethora of complex and shared challenges, from economic development and environmental protection to security.”
“We believe that mutual understanding, cooperation and collaboration among the Indo-Pacific countries are essential for stability, peace, and prosperity of the region, in particular, and the world at large,” he pointed out.
Highlighting the importance of working together, he said, “We are committed to working with our regional partners to pursue regional and sub-regional integration through connectivity, and jointly address shared challenges such as climate change and maritime security.”
He mentioned the multimodal connectivity with India through highways, inland and coastal waterways, railways and airways, restoration of severed connectivity after the 1965 India-Pakistan war, energy connectivity through projects like India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline for transporting diesel, cross-border power grid connectivity, digital connectivity, and sub-regional extension of such connectivity with other neighbours through arrangements like BIN MVA (Bangladesh India Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement).
“These are demonstration of Bangladesh’s commitment towards regional integration. Now Bangladesh has become a connectivity Hub as we believe, connectivity is productivity,” he said.
Being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world with inclusive socio-economic progress, rapid reduction of poverty, women empowerment and transformational power-energy-connectivity-digital infrastructure, Bangladesh has become a poster child of development, the foreign minister said.
“With rapid economic expansion coupled with geostrategic location, Bangladesh is bound to attract higher attention of the international community, which has been the case in recent times. Mindful of our enhanced roles and responsibility in the region, we have been pursuing inclusive engagements with all countries of the region,” he said.
However, the rich treasures of the Bay are also associated with transnational threats like the trafficking of narcotics, weapons and people; illegal exploitation of natural resources; externally and internationally displaced persons; terrorist groups; and increasingly, natural disasters and adverse changes in the climate, which disrupt national, regional and ultimately global stability and security, he said.
He also mentioned that Bangladesh’s partnership with Japan on the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt or BIG-B initiative in southeastern Bangladesh is creating a connectivity hub for the region.
“We are keen to be the bridge that South Asia and Southeast Asia need for a greater integration of the two sub-regions and to make the Indo-Pacific region more connected,” he said.
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said, “Like all Indo-Pacific partners, Bangladesh faces a number of non-traditional security threats that can be a serious detriment to our economic growth and development aspirations unless we tackle them through effective regional and international collaboration.”
He further said that the bilateral connectivity projects would feature prominently during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s upcoming meeting with her counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.
“Bangladesh will continue to attach priority to regional connectivity in pursuance of our political leadership’s vision to position our territory as a connectivity hub in the Indo Pacific context,” he said.
Earlier in the morning, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam said, “We wish to establish broader and deeper ties with major powers and other regional countries as today’s security challenges are more directly related to cross-regional and global issues such as prevention of the spread of international terrorism as well as maritime security.”
