He said the root cause of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas lies in Myanmar and they have to go back to their country of origin which is the only and ultimate solution of the crisis.
Minister Ali conveyed this to new Country Director of World Food Program (WFP) in Bangladesh Richard Ragan during a meeting held at his office.
WFP Representative, an American national who had a long working experience with WFP prior to his assignment in Dhaka, presented his credentials to Minister Ali at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before the meeting.
In the pursuit, Minister Ali expressed firm belief that World Food Program (WFP) will continue to play a pro-active and substantive role in their safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable repatriation to Myanmar.
In response, the new Country Director expressed hope that the relations between Bangladesh and the WFP will be strengthened through enhanced engagements in the coming days.
He served at WFP Offices in Nepal, North Korea and Zambia in various capacities. He also served in the United Nations Ebola Emergency Response Team as Director of Operations and UNWFP as Emergency Coordinator for the 2015 Nepal earthquake response.
While accepting the credentials, Minister Ali welcomed him to Bangladesh and assured him of all out support from the government.
During the meeting, the Foreign Minister highly appreciated the role of WFP as the world's largest humanitarian agency in fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.
He also deeply appreciated WFP’s immediate response in providing food assistance to the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh.