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Dhaka News: Dhaka-Yangon official t
Subject: Dhaka News: Dhaka-Yangon official talks inconclusive
( From the Independent Paper)
28/7/99
Dhaka-Yangon official talks inconclusive
Azad, Aung discuss formation of joint commission
by Special Correspondent
The official talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar held
yesterday evening in
Dhaka ended inconclusively. However, Foreign Minister Abdus
Samad Azad and
his Myanmar counterpart U Win Aung, who led their respective
sides at the
two-hour talks, said that they would continue discussions to
solve all their bilateral
problems.
"We hope to solve all problems since we have the will to do
it and so, we are
going to talk more", the Myanmar Foreign Minister told
newsmen after the talks at
the State Guest House Meghna. Aung arrived Dhaka yesterday
afternoon on a
three-day official visit.
Samad Azad, who was standing beside Aung, expressed the same
view saying,
"Our two-hour meeting was fruitful and useful -- we will
discuss more."
All the bilateral issues, including repatriation of Rohingya
refugees remaining in
Bangladesh, came up for discussion during the talks which
began at 5:15 pm.
Samad Azad was assisted by Foreign Secretary C.M. Shafi
Sami, Home
Secretary Shafiur Rahman, Commerce Secretary Syed Alamgir
Faruque
Chowdhury, Bangladesh Ambassador to Myanmar Jahangir Sadat,
Commissioner
of Chittagong Division Mobaidul Islam and senior officials.
U Win Aung was aided by Principal Officer to his ministry U
Win Thein, Myanmar
ambassador to Bangladesh U Tint Lwin and Deputy Chief of
Myanmar mission in
Dhaka U Mya Tun.
Besides other issues, the talks were dominated by
repatriation of the Rohingya
refugees still in this country. The Bangladesh side stressed
on speedy repatriation
of 21,000 Rohingya refugees now in two camps at Cox's Bazar
and asked
Myanmar to take back 7,000 Rohingyas, who were cleared for
return by Yangon
long ago.
During the meeting, the Myanmar Foreign Minister proposed to
set up a Joint
Commission of the two countries to look into the bilateral
problems and find
solutions. The Bangladesh side appreciated the proposal but
pointed out that
further examination was needed before the formation of such
a body.
Bangladesh emphasised the need to resume senior official
level meetings between
the two countries to expedite the Rohingya repatriation. The
last such meeting was
held in 1997. It was pointed out that senior official level
meetings could help a lot
in speeding up the repatriation process. Myanmar agreed to
resume such meeting
at a time suitable to both sides.
The Myanmar Foreign Minister was told that since November
last year, only 378
Rohingyas had been taken back. Meanwhile, the refugee
population at the camps
had increased by 543, due to births, it was mentioned.
Replying to a question on the repatriation issue, Aung told
newsmen that his
country had already taken back over 200,000 Rohingyas and
that others, who had
been cleared, would be taken back. He mentioned some
problems in resettlement
of the refugees in Myanmar which was causing the delay in
repatriation.
About the removal of land mines from some places along the
190 km long border
between the two countries, Aung said that his country was
ready to cooperate with
Bangladeshi experts if they did it.
Expansion of bilateral trade between the two countries also
came up for discussion
and both sides agreed that scope existed for it. During
1998-99, the total trade
between the two countries stood at 70 million US dollars and
it was in Myanmar's
favour.
Earlier, Myanmar Foreign Minister U Win Aung was received at
the Zia
International Airport by Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad.
He came to Dhaka
from Sri Lanka and described this trip as a familiarisation
visit after taking over the
charge of his country's foreign ministry.
On arrival, he told reporters at the airport that there was
no major problem or
conflict between his country and Bangladesh.
U Win Aung is scheduled to call on President Justice
Shahabuddin Ahmed and
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today. He is also likely to
meet Chittagong Hill
Tracts Affairs Minister Kalpa Ranjan Chakma.