Ankara pledges Dhaka raising Rohingya issue at UNSC

Ankara today assured Dhaka that Turkey will raise the Rohingya repatriation issue at the next United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting.

The assurance was made while Bangladesh foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen talked with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu over telephone, a foreign ministry press release said in Dhaka, reports BSS.

During the conversation, the Turkish foreign minister assured that his country will continue its support to Bangladesh so that forcibly displaced Rohingyas can repatriate with dignity and safety to Rakhine state, the land of origin of the Myanmar’s ethnic group.

Momen urged the Turkish foreign minister to take effective steps in forming ‘COVID-19 Recovery & Response Fund’ which was proposed by Dhaka during the last OIC’s foreign ministerial level meeting to support migrant workers in Middle East (ME) countries.

Noting that many Bangladeshi expatriate workers are being hard-hit financially and, even in some cases, they have been starving in different countries due to coronavirus outbreak, Momen sought Turkey’s support in helping retain their jobs in ME nations during and after pandemic.

Momen also sought Turkey’s help in advocating the ME countries so that Bangladeshi expatriate workers can get financial support equivalent to their six months’ salary, if they are forced to leave their host countries.

Terming Ready-made Garment (RMG) as one of the major engines of Bangladesh economy, the foreign minister wanted Turkish support to convince European buyers not to cancel import orders from Bangladeshi RMG units.

Bangladesh foreign minister also proposed to form a working group within D-8 to strengthen economic cooperation among the D-8 member countries.

Currently, Turkey chairs the D-8, Organization for Economic Cooperation, also known as Developing-8, that also comprised seven other countries- Bangladesh, Egypt, Nigeria, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and Pakistan.

Dr Momen also expected Turkish backing so that Bangladesh can avail support from the seven trillion dollars fund, created by G-20 for the least developed countries (LDCs).

Both the ministers agreed to work together on the issues over trade enhancement as well as food security during post corona pandemic period.

The Turkish minister expressed his interest to provide one lakh surgical and N-95 masks to Bangladesh.