Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen on Sunday said his country is working with Myanmar to have another ceasefire in Rakhine State, so that the Rohingya repatriation process can start very soon.

“Repatriation issue is something we discussed quite deeply. We understand, now we face difficult days. But we need to be confident,” he told reporters after his meeting with Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ambassador recalled that they saw ceasefire in the past under the mediation of China in Rakhine State.

He said they, under the joint initiative of Bangladesh, China and Myanmar, have already made remarkable progress in terms of repatriation of the Rohingyas.

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Ambassador Yao said China will continue to play its role and hoped that Bangladesh and Myanmar will remain engaged to make arrangements so that the Rohingyas can return to Myanmar as soon as possible.

The foreign minister thanked China for helping the process to repatriate the Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals from Bangladesh to their home in Myanmar.

Yao reiterated China’s stance that repatriation is the only means to have a sustainable solution of the crisis and China is working with the entire stakeholder to that end.

Responding to a question on the Teesta project, he said China is committed to helping Bangladesh in this regard but it requires proposal from the Bangladesh side first.

However, the Teesta project issue was not discussed in the meeting, said the foreign minister.

The Chinese ambassador said they expect better future and deep cooperation with Bangladesh.

FM hopeful of Rohingya repatriation soon

China reiterated its position to further strengthen the bilateral relations during the new tenure of the government in Bangladesh.

The foreign minister thanked the ambassador for the letters of congratulations that the president and premier of China have sent to PM Hasina as well as the letter of congratulation that the foreign minister of China has sent to him for assuming the charge in respective offices.

He expressed his satisfaction in the existing development cooperation between Bangladesh and China and hoped the engagements will further increase to bring mutual benefit of the peoples.

Hasan stressed the need of more people-to-people connectivity between the two countries. He also referred to the existing trade deficit and requested for China’s further imports from Bangladesh.

Ambassador Yao informed that China is taking necessary actions to import more from Bangladesh, especially the items like jute and jute goods, leather, meat and sea-food.

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China is also expecting to complete their internal process to start importing Bangladeshi mangoes by the second half of this year.

The foreign minister appreciated the progress in Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between Bangladesh and China and hoped that it will be finalized by 2026 before the graduation of Bangladesh from the LDC category.

He also acknowledged China’s contribution to vaccine support for Bangladesh during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ambassador Yao congratulated Hasan for being the new foreign minister of Bangladesh. He appreciated the impressive socio-economic development that Bangladesh has achieved in the last one-and-a-half decades.

The ambassador congratulated all concerned in Bangladesh on holding the free, fair and festive national elections recently.