Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said that pressure from some international agencies and some NGOs delayed relocation of the displaced Rohingya people from Cox’s Bazar to Bhasan Char in Noakhali.
‘Prime minister Sheikh Hasina decided to relocate about one lakh Rohingya people to Bhasan Char. Most of them are willing to go. Although the date has not been finalised yet, the transfer process is being delayed due to the pressure of some NGOs and international agencies only’, he told journalists after visiting the Barind Research Museum in Rajshahi.
The minister said that Rohingya people would get scopes of economic activities, work in agriculture and raise cows and goats in Bhasan Char. But, some international agencies and NGO’s are influencing them not to relocate there, he said.
Momen also said they would demand export tariffs reduction to the new US government.
‘We have to pay extra 15.6 per cent tariffs on products that United States buys from us. Despite being a poor country, we pay the highest tariffs in the world while France has only 0.5 per cent tariff on everything America buys from them’, he said.
Abdul Momen said 104 Bangladeshis stranded in Ethiopia had been rescued. ‘They are safe now. They will be brought back soon,’ said the FM.
