Bangladesh interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Thursday called upon Asian leaders to offer their support for ensuring the repatriation of Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh to their homeland, Myanmar.
While addressing the Boao Forum Annual Conference in Hainan province of China, he said that the protracted crisis in Myanmar threatened regional stability, according to his speech shared by the chief adviser鈥檚 press wing.
鈥榃hile global efforts are drastically shrinking but continuing, Asian leaders must come together to ensure their [Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh] safe and dignified repatriation to their home country, Myanmar,鈥� said Yunus, who reached China on Wednesday on a four-day bilateral visit to the country.
Bangladesh has been hosting over 1.2 million forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar for more than seven years, he said.
鈥榃e continue to bear significant social, economic, and environmental costs. The UN secretary-general has recently visited the Rohingya camps to express solidarity,鈥� he said.
None of the Mynanmar nationals sheltered in Cox鈥檚 Bazar camps in Bangladesh could be returned to Myanmar despite efforts since the large-scale exodus in 2017.
The chief adviser said that in the changing world, the destinies of Asian countries were intertwined and so they must chart a clear road map for a shared future and shared prosperity.
鈥榃e must chart a clear road map for a shared future and shared prosperity. At this forum, Asia must step up and strengthen cooperation in four key areas,鈥� Yunus said, adding that first, for financial cooperation, Asia must create a sustainable financing mechanism.
He said that the forum was taking place at a critical juncture with geopolitical tensions rising amid growing humanitarian crises.
鈥楶olitical will for development cooperation is weakening. The world faces an alarming shortfall in collective action,鈥� Yunus observed, adding that Asia, home to 60 per cent of the global population and 55 per cent of the global GDP, was at the centre of these changes.
He said that in 2007, he had attended the Boao Forum for Asia to share insights on microcredit. 鈥楾oday, I stand before you in a different capacity, representing a Bangladesh that underwent a historic transformation in July-August past year. The world witnessed people united against oppression and corruption.鈥�
Zhang Jun, secretary general of Boao Forum for Asia, Ban Ki-moon, former secretary-general of the United Nations and current chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia, attended the event where Ding Xuexiang, executive vice-premiere of the state council of the People鈥檚 Republic of China, delivered the keynote speech in the presence of entrepreneurs and business representatives, among others.
Ban Ki-moon met Yunus on the sidelines of the forum in Hainan.
