Dhaka News: Dhaka-Yangon official t

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Subject: Dhaka News: Dhaka-Yangon official talks inconclusive


	( From the Independent Paper)
	28/7/99       	
           
               Dhaka-Yangon official talks inconclusive

               Azad, Aung discuss formation of joint commission 

               by Special Correspondent 

               The official talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar held
yesterday evening in
               Dhaka ended inconclusively. However, Foreign Minister Abdus
Samad Azad and
               his Myanmar counterpart U Win Aung, who led their respective
sides at the
               two-hour talks, said that they would continue discussions to
solve all their bilateral
               problems. 

               "We hope to solve all problems since we have the will to do
it and so, we are
               going to talk more", the Myanmar Foreign Minister told
newsmen after the talks at
               the State Guest House Meghna. Aung arrived Dhaka yesterday
afternoon on a
               three-day official visit. 

               Samad Azad, who was standing beside Aung, expressed the same
view saying,
               "Our two-hour meeting was fruitful and useful -- we will
discuss more." 

               All the bilateral issues, including repatriation of Rohingya
refugees remaining in
               Bangladesh, came up for discussion during the talks which
began at 5:15 pm. 

               Samad Azad was assisted by Foreign Secretary C.M. Shafi
Sami, Home
               Secretary Shafiur Rahman, Commerce Secretary Syed Alamgir
Faruque
               Chowdhury, Bangladesh Ambassador to Myanmar Jahangir Sadat,
Commissioner
               of Chittagong Division Mobaidul Islam and senior officials. 

               U Win Aung was aided by Principal Officer to his ministry U
Win Thein, Myanmar
               ambassador to Bangladesh U Tint Lwin and Deputy Chief of
Myanmar mission in
               Dhaka U Mya Tun. 

               Besides other issues, the talks were dominated by
repatriation of the Rohingya
               refugees still in this country. The Bangladesh side stressed
on speedy repatriation
               of 21,000 Rohingya refugees now in two camps at Cox's Bazar
and asked
               Myanmar to take back 7,000 Rohingyas, who were cleared for
return by Yangon
               long ago. 


               During the meeting, the Myanmar Foreign Minister proposed to
set up a Joint
               Commission of the two countries to look into the bilateral
problems and find
               solutions. The Bangladesh side appreciated the proposal but
pointed out that
               further examination was needed before the formation of such
a body. 

               Bangladesh emphasised the need to resume senior official
level meetings between
               the two countries to expedite the Rohingya repatriation. The
last such meeting was
               held in 1997. It was pointed out that senior official level
meetings could help a lot
               in speeding up the repatriation process. Myanmar agreed to
resume such meeting
               at a time suitable to both sides. 

               The Myanmar Foreign Minister was told that since November
last year, only 378
               Rohingyas had been taken back. Meanwhile, the refugee
population at the camps
               had increased by 543, due to births, it was mentioned. 

               Replying to a question on the repatriation issue, Aung told
newsmen that his
               country had already taken back over 200,000 Rohingyas and
that others, who had
               been cleared, would be taken back. He mentioned some
problems in resettlement
               of the refugees in Myanmar which was causing the delay in
repatriation. 

               About the removal of land mines from some places along the
190 km long border
               between the two countries, Aung said that his country was
ready to cooperate with
               Bangladeshi experts if they did it. 

               Expansion of bilateral trade between the two countries also
came up for discussion
               and both sides agreed that scope existed for it. During
1998-99, the total trade
               between the two countries stood at 70 million US dollars and
it was in Myanmar's
               favour. 

               Earlier, Myanmar Foreign Minister U Win Aung was received at
the Zia
               International Airport by Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad.
He came to Dhaka
               from Sri Lanka and described this trip as a familiarisation
visit after taking over the
               charge of his country's foreign ministry. 

               On arrival, he told reporters at the airport that there was
no major problem or
               conflict between his country and Bangladesh. 

               U Win Aung is scheduled to call on President Justice
Shahabuddin Ahmed and
               Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today. He is also likely to
meet Chittagong Hill
               Tracts Affairs Minister Kalpa Ranjan Chakma.