Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the international community to lend more support for Rohingyas who have fled from native country Myanmar to Bangladesh.
The premier made the urge in an interview with NHK, a Japanese public broadcaster, in Tokyo on Thursday, as she was on a four-day state visit to Japan. She left Tokyo this afternoon for Washington.
Sheikh Hasina met Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio on Wednesday. They agreed to elevate bilateral relations to a strategic partnership.
Bangladesh saw the largest influx of the Rohingyas from neighboring Myanmar in 2017, who fled their homeland to escape the military crackdown.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during the interview, said the cost of operating refugee camps for about one million Rohingyas is rising as energy and food prices have soared on the back of the Ukrainian situation.
She said her government has already started discussions with the Myanmar military about returning the refugees. Myanmar has agreed to take them back, but nothing has materialized so far, she added.
The premier also said that she wants to conclude an economic partnership agreement with Japan by 2026.
Bangladesh, she said, has a large population of young people, and there are huge markets in South and Southeast Asia.
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