US likely to take few Rohingyas on Thursday: FM

The United States is likely to start taking forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Bangladesh to its territory on Thursday.  

"In the first phase, they have listed about 62 Rohingyas ... (and) among them, they are likely to take few Rohingyas on December 8," foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told media on Tuesday afternoon, reports BSS.  

"There is nothing to get excited (as US will take few Rohingyas) ... it (the number of Rohingyas) is just a drop in the ocean," Momen said as Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas.

Momen said earlier he urged the US to take at least one lakh Rohingyas as the density of people is much lower in US compare to Bangladesh.

However, the foreign minister said, it's a good move as the US is about to start Rohingyas and Washington decided to take some Rohingyas from Bangladesh every year.

The government of Bangladesh wants to see better life for the Rohingyas, he added.The US assistant secretary thanked Bangladesh government for its life-saving support for Rohingya and discussed about the safe return, livelihood and third country resettlement of the displaced Myanmar people.

The US assistant secretary arrived here on Saturday on a five-day official tour of Bangladesh to visit Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar and Bhashanchar. He is scheduled to leave Bangladesh for Thailand on Wednesday.