Bangladesh to seek Indian support over Rohingya crisis

Bangladesh will seek India's support for an early resolution to the Rohingya crisis during its Foreign Minister's maiden official visit to New Delhi.

AK Abdul Momen is all set to leave for his three-day visit to India on Wednesday night.

"Among other things, we want to consult with my counterpart about the early resolution of Rohingya crisis as it may affect regional stability," Momen told Bangladesh's state news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.

He was appointed as the Foreign Minister after Sheikh Hasina's Awami League came into power following a landslide victory after the 11th Parliamentary elections held on December 30 last year.

"I am visiting India in my maiden foreign tour to honour our great neighbour, the world's greatest democracy," he said.

 

The Foreign Minister highlighted that as many as five memoranda of understanding (MoU) could be signed between the two sides during the visit.

Momen also highlighted that India and Bangladesh now share warm relations.

"We have some other issues as neighbours, everywhere in the world has issues. But by now, we have amicably resolved several of them -- like the major maritime boundary and the land boundary. We expect the others to be solved as well since we now enjoy the warmest-ever relations."

Officials told the national broadcaster that one of the three MoUs is about cooperation between New Delhi and Dhaka about graft investigations, while the other two are regarding TV broadcasting and medicinal plants.

Bangladesh's Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) and India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will sign the first MoU. Bangladesh TV and India's Prasar Bharti will sign the second one. The health ministries of both nations will sign the third MoU.

Momen will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. He will attend the fifth India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) on Friday. The last JCC meet held during October 2017 in Dhaka was attended by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

The visiting dignitary is also scheduled to meet former President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday before returning home the next day.

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