South Korean envoy visits Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar

Prothomalo
Diplomatic Correspondent

Dhaka
19 Feb 2021,

South Korean envoy visits Rohingya camps in Cox’s BazarCourtesy

South Korean ambassador in Dhaka Lee Jang-keun visited the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar. He met representatives of the UN agencies, international donor organisations and the local administration in Cox’s Bazar and discussed how to step up collaboration to resolve the Rohingya crisis.

Lee Jang-keun told Prothom Alo on Thursday, “This is the first time I visited Cox’s Bazar to see the Rohingya crisis since I came to Dhaka in July last year. I got an overall idea on the crisis through this visit.”

The Korean embassy in Dhaka, in a statement on Wednesday, said ambassador Lee Jang-keun visited Cox’s Bazar from 14 to 17 February to oversee the refuge and host community programmes assisted by Korea through international agencies.

It said, Korea has been contributing annually four to five million US dollars to the international organizations based in Bangladesh for assisting their humanitarian efforts to address the largest global refugee crisis of Rohingyas. In 2020, the Republic of Korea contributed 4 million US dollars to UNHCR, UNICEF, IOM, WFP, and IFRC offices in Bangladesh, it reads.

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The statement further said on 15 February, ambassador Lee, with the guidance of representatives of IOM (International Organization for Migration) and WFP (World Food Program), visited Cox’s Bazar Rohingya refugee camp and engaged with humanitarian workers and the Rohingya refugees.

He visited the COVID-19 Isolation and Treatment Center (ICT), Women and Girls Safe Space (WGSS), Shelter Distribution Center, LPG Depot, Site Management Hub, E-voucher Outlet, and Fresh Food Corner, WFP Logistics Hub and Host Community of Kulalpara, Rajapalong. KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) Dhaka office representative, Do Yong-Ah also joined this visit.

Ambassador Lee also held various meetings with UN agencies in Cox’s Bazar, including IOM, WFP, UNHCR, and UNICEF, and was briefed on activities of the organisations in the camp and host community, and discussed how to improve collaborations for resolving the refuge challenges.

During the visit, Ambassador Lee also met with local authorities of Bangladesh including Md Mamunur Rashid, deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar, and Shah Rezwan Hayat, Refugee Relief and Repatriation commissioner. He also held meetings with Korean NGO members and business people working in the Cox’s Bazar area.

Prior to visiting Cox’s Bazar, ambassador Lee visited Maheshkhali Island on 14 February and inspected the tripartite project of IOM, Korea Telecom, and KOICA to establish a high-speed communication network on the island providing platforms for education, health and e-commerce services to the inhabitants, according to the statement.

Link : Here