Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on Sunday sought UN Special Envoy Julie Bishop's support to help ease the humanitarian crisis in the civil war-wracked Rakhine state and prevent the influx of new refugees fleeing Western Myanmar.
UN Special Envoy on Myanmar Julie Bishop met Dr Yunus at the State Guest House Jamuna and discussed mobilising more donors for the Rohingya refugees after uncertainty over the new direction in the US foreign policy.
They discussed the Rohingya crisis and explored fresh ways to resolve it and mobilise new donors for humanitarian assistance for more than a million forcibly displaced Rohingyas living in the camps in Bangladesh's southeast.
Dr Yunus said the United Nations would hold an international conference on the Rohingya crisis later this year, and he urged Julie Bishop, a former acting Prime Minister of Australia, to play a central role in the major meeting.
"Your role will be crucial," the Chief Adviser said, adding that Malaysia and Finland have agreed to become co-facilitators of the conference.
Bishop stressed the need for making the UN international conference on Rohingya a major success, as it would be crucial to resolve the decade-long crisis sustainably.
He noted that the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres would visit Bangladesh in mid-March and would meet with the Rohingyas in the camps in Cox's Bazar.
bd-pratidin/GR
