A senior UN official has hoped Bangladesh will continue to stand beside the UN in fulfilling its peacekeeping agenda.
The foreign ministry said Ali assured the UN official of Bangladesh’s support to the secretary general’s reform agenda for UN peacekeeping operations.
Lacroix thanked Bangladesh for its contributions to UN peacekeeping and lauded its role in supporting the efforts of the UN for political solutions in various parts of the world.
He also appreciated Bangladesh for remaining actively engaged in the policy-level negotiations and consultations in the UN.
Mahmood Ali said the Sheikh Hasina government will continue to take part in the peacekeeping as well as other peace initiatives of the UN.
Meanwhile, the UN under-secretary-general is expected to visit the Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operations Training on Monday before leaving Dhaka on Tuesday, ending a three-day visit.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim are coming to Bangladesh to visit Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar as the pressure on Myanmar continues to grow following the ‘ethnic cleansing’ in the Rakhine State.
World Bank Dhaka office spokesperson Mehrin Ahmed Mahbub told that the World Bank president would be visiting Bangladesh on July 1 and 2.
The UN office in Dhaka did not discuss the Secretary General’s visit when asked, but a senior official at the foreign ministry has confirmed his visit.
Both of them are expected to arrive in Dhaka on the evening of Jun 30 and are scheduled to visit Rohingya camps on Jul 2.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith had previously told reporters on Jun 18 that the two would visit Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar during the visit.
The World Bank is planning to give between $400 and $500 million in aid in phases for Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar, Muhith said.
The two will also meet with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Finance Minister AMA Muhith and Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, among others.
About 700,000 of the Muslim-majority Rohingya population have fled largely Buddhist Myanmar to Bangladesh after a military crackdown in August 2017 that the United Nations has called ‘ethnic cleansing’.
Bangladesh is in talks with Myanmar to repatriate the refugees. The international community has called upon Myanmar to ensure an environment so that they can return voluntarily.
