The Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population, the United Nations Development Programme, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees signed an ‘Exchange of Letters’ to assist the repatriation process of displaced people from Rakhine State.

The EOL was signed to extend a previous Memorandum of Understanding between the three parties, inked on 6 June, 2018, by one more year.

The new tripartite MoU will expire on 5 June, 2020.

At the signing ceremony, Union Minister for Labour, Immigration and Population U Thein Swe assured close collaboration with the UNDP and the UNHCR in repatriating the displaced people, resettling them, and creating job opportunities for them.

The Union Minister said that the necessary assessments concerning 22,432 displaced people were being conducted since the third coordination meeting in Dhaka on 30 October, 2018.

Based on an assessment conducted by officials of the UNDP and the UNHCR under the tripartite agreement, permission was given on 9 April this year to carry out the first 21 community-based projects of the 35 projects slated for 10 villages in Buthidaung Township and 14 villages in Maungtaw Township, said the Union Minister.

Of the 36 community-based projects in the second phase, 13 projects will be implemented in 20 villages in Buthidaung Township and 15 villages in Maungtaw Township, according to the Ministry.

Furthermore, to implement the tripartite MoU, village-tracts where the assessment is to be carried out have been approved.

At the ceremony, Mr. Johan Cels and Ms. Dawn Del Rio explained the plan for accepting the displaced people and the assistance to be given to them.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, and Population U Aye Lwin, Mr. Johan Cels, and Ms. Dawn Del Rio signed the Exchange of Letters in the presence of Union Minister U Thein Swe, and Deputy Ministers U Knin Maung Tin and U Soe Aung . Thereafter, the Union Minister and officials posed for a group photo.—MNA (Translated by Alphonsus)