Cambodia assures efforts on sustainable Rohingya solution as ASEAN chair

Cambodia has assured Bangladesh of its best efforts in bringing a sustainable solution to the Rohingya problem as ASEAN chair. 

The assurance was made during a telephonic conversation between foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn today, a foreign ministry press release said. 

Lauding the 'big heart' demonstrated by Bangladesh in sheltering 1.1 million displaced Myanmar people, Sokhonn expressed his full understanding of and sympathy for the difficulties being faced by Bangladesh. 

Dr Momen congratulated his Cambodian counterpart on Cambodia's assumption of ASEAN Chairmanship and on the latter's appointment as the Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair to Myanmar. 

Bangladesh foreign minister observed that the Cambodian Chairmanship of ASEAN provided a great opportunity for them to facilitate the safe and dignified return of the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals, currently being sheltered in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds, expeditiously to Myanmar. 

He mentioned about the potential security risks to Bangladesh, Myanmar and to the greater region if the crisis is left festering for a much longer period of time due to the vulnerability of the displaced people to radicalism, extremism, terrorism and cross-border crimes. 

Both the Ministers highly appreciated the praiseworthy steps taken by the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and Cambodia for mutual naming of a prominent street in the capitals Dhaka and Phnom Penh, which took the bilateral relations between the two countries to new heights.

On Bangladesh Foreign Minister's request for Cambodia's support in expediting Bangladesh's bid for ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partnership status, the Cambodian Foreign Minister expressed his endorsement and assured of necessary coordination with the ASEAN Secretariat in this regard.