The United States has said it will continue to call upon the Myanmar government to create right conditions in Rakhine so that Rohingyas can voluntarily return to their homes safely from Bangladesh.
“We’ll continue to call on Myanmar government to create right conditions in Rakhine State that will facilitate safe return of Refugees,” said visiting Deputy Assistant Secretary in the US State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Daniel N Rosenblum.
He made the remarks while responding to a set of questions after delivering a lecture on ‘The United States and the Indo-Pacific Region’ here on Tuesday.
US Ambassador Marcia Benicat and BIISS Director General AKM Abdur Rahman, among others, spoke with BIISS Chairman Munshi Faiz Ahmad in the chair.
Rosenblum said they strongly applaud the government of Bangladesh’s response to the Rohingya crisis and its generosity in giving Rohingyas shelter in the country.
“We appreciate the efforts that the government is making to ensure that assistance reaches refugee camps,” said the US Deputy Assistant Secretary. “Everybody knows we’ve spoken out strongly about the atrocities,” he said adding that they will keep speaking out, will keep providing assistance and keep recognising the sacrifices Bangladesh made in dealing with tragedy.
Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) hosted the event at its conference room in the afternoon.
Rosenblum also said the US wants to work with Bangladesh and other like-minded nations to build a prosperous, secure, and interconnected Indo-Pacific.
“The United States is committed to working with nations in South Asia or the broader region,” he said.
Rosenblum said concerted efforts by many partners will be needed if they are to connect these vast regions together in the interest of common prosperity and opportunity.
The US diplomat highly appreciated Bangladesh for peacefully resolving its maritime disputes with India and Myanmar. “Bangladesh is a model in this respect.”
Despite rapid growth, Rosenblum said, South Asia lags behind Southeast Asia in measures of intraregional trade and connectivity.
“For centuries, South Asia was a region bound together by the exchange of goods, people, and ideas. But today it’s one of the least economically integrated regions in the world,” he said.
The World Bank estimates that with barriers removed and streamlined custom procedures, interregional trade in South Asia would nearly quadruple from the current $28 billion to over $100 billion.
