Rohingyas make adverse impact on economy, environment: Minister

GBNEWS24 DESK//

The presence of Rohingyas displaced from Rakhain state of neighbouring Myanmar is causing adverse impacts on Bangladesh’s environment and economy, said Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque on Tuesday.

Abdur Razzaque said: “Coronavirus, climate change and natural disasters along with man-made disaster of 1.1 million Rohingyas are living in Bangladesh, which are making adverse impact on our society, economy and environment.”

The agriculture minister made the remarks while highlighting the situation in Bangladesh at the ‘State of Food and Agriculture’ sector of the 42nd conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The minister joined the conference virtually from the conference room of the ministry at the secretariat in Dhaka.

Due to COVID-19, this year’s conference is being held virtually from June 14 to June 18.

He called upon all development-partner countries to invest in Bangladesh so that Bangladesh could overcome from these crisis quickly.

An eight-member Bangladesh delegation led by the Agriculture Minister is participating in the conference.

From Dhaka, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Md Mesbahul Islam, Additional Secretary Md Ruhul Amin Talukder, Joint Secretary Tajkera Khatun, Deputy Secretary Ali Akbar and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Economic Relations Bidhan Baral are participating in the conference.

Ambassador of Bangladesh to Italy Shameem Ahsan and Economic Counselor Manas Mitra are also participating from Rome, Italy.

The minister said the 36th Asia and Pacific Regional Conference (APRC-36) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will be held in Dhaka on March 8-11, 2022.

He sought the cooperation of FAO member countries to make the conference a success.