Mogherini optimistic over Bangladesh-Myanmar deal on Rohingya refugees

BRUSSELS, Nov 20 (KUNA) -- EU High Representative Federica Mogherini met the State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday and discussed the situation in Rakhine State.
The meeting was held at the sidelines of the Asian-European foreign ministers (ASEM) meeting in Nai Pyi Taw in Myanmar.
In a press statement after the meeting, Mogherini said that before Myanmar she had visited several Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh and met the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
"I am very much encouraged by the possibility, that, I believe, is real and concrete of Myanmar and Bangladesh reaching an agreement on a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding for the repatriation of refugees," she said.
She noted that this would constitute a first important step on the implementation of the Annan report (the Report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, chaired by Kofi Annan) recommendations.
"We encourage both, Bangladesh and Myanmar to work bilaterally on this issue with the support of the European Union and the rest of the international community.
"We believe that stopping the violence, stopping the flow of refugees, and guaranteeing full humanitarian access to Rakhine State and a safe, sustainable repatriation of the refugees is going to be key," said the EU foreign policy chief.
She stressed that the European Union is firmly behind the democratic transition of Myanmar.
Mogherini said they will "have a very important ministerial meeting between the Asian ministers and the European ministers today and tomorrow, tackling all the different issues we have on the table, and most of all the partnership between Europe and Asia that, in the global times we are living in, is going to be extremely important." She said that North Korea will be high on the agenda. (end) nk.sd