Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Thursday held separate bilateral meetings with his Indian and Chinese counterparts, on the sideline of a connectivity conference in Uzbekistan, highlighting necessity of early Rohingya repatriation as well as Covid vaccine cooperation.
The foreign minister is leading a delegation comprised of Bangladesh ambassador to Uzbekistan and senior officials from Dhaka to the International Conference on "Central and South Asia: Regional connectivity: Challenges and opportunities" currently being held in Uzbek's capital Tashkent.
Apart from meeting with his Indian and Chinese counterparts, Momen also held a bilateral meet with Tajikistan foreign minister on the sideline of the conference, a foreign ministry press release said.
Meeting with Jaishankar
Momen and Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar discussed a range of issues including the bilateral and regional connectivity, Covid and vaccination situation in both the countries and the issue of repatriation of forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals Rohingyas from Bangladesh to their land of origin in Rakhine.
The Indian foreign minister expressed his happiness as the supply of vaccination to Bangladesh is back on track again from diversified external sources including under COVAX arrangement.
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the partnership and expanding multifaceted cooperation.
They also emphasized the need for resuming the activities of various joint mechanisms soon after the Covid scenario in both countries improves.
Meeting with Wang Yi
After meeting with Jaishankar, Momen held a bilateral meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi where he reiterated his request to initiate vaccine coproduction in Bangladesh with a partnership between Bangladeshi and Chinese stakeholders.
He thanked the Chinese government for initiating the six-party Covid consultation and expressed Bangladesh's gratitude to the Chinese government for standing by the people of Bangladesh at an extremely difficult time by generosity sending vaccine doses as gifts and also opening the commercial supply line.
Wang Yi assured Momen of the Chinese government's support on vaccine coproduction in Bangladesh.
Both the foreign ministers agreed to continue to work further towards the repatriation of the Rohingyas while they put emphasis on resuming the tripartite dialogue among Bangladesh, China and Myanmar in this regard.
Both sides reciprocated their appreciation to each other for exchanging video messages by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and President Xi Jinping on the occasions of the joint program of the 100th anniversary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence and the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China respectively.
Meeting with Muhriddin
During his meeting with Tajikistan Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin, Momen proposed to initiate a joint working commission to boost bilateral trade and investment.
Muhriddin expressed his country's appreciation to Bangladesh for graciously hosting the persecuted Rohingyas and pledged to continue to support Bangladesh in its multidimensional efforts to repatriate the displaced Rohingyas.
Momen will return home on July 19.
