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Bangladesh's Yunus offers assurances on Rohingya refugees, garment exports

Leader Muhammad Yunus says the country will support and help repatriate Rohingya refugees to Myanmar while seeking the return of clothing companies that moved production elsewhere due to instability in Bangladesh.

AFP

"Our government will continue to support the million-plus Rohingya people sheltered in Bangladesh," Yunus said. / Photo: AFP

Bangladesh's interim government will support the country's Rohingya refugee population and vital garment export trade, leader Muhammad Yunus said in his first major policy address since taking office.

The South Asian country is home to around one million Rohingya refugees.

Most of them fled neighbouring Myanmar in 2017 after a military crackdown now the subject of a genocide investigation by a United Nations court.

"Our government will continue to support the million-plus Rohingya people sheltered in Bangladesh," Yunus said on Sunday.

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"We need the sustained efforts of the international community for Rohingya humanitarian operations and their eventual repatriation to their homeland, Myanmar, with safety, dignity and full rights."

Bangladesh's 3,500 garment factories account for around 85 percent of its $55 billion in annual exports.

Some suppliers shifted production out of the country during the unrest that toppled Yunus' predecessor, ex-premier Sheikh Hasina.

"We won't tolerate any attempt to disrupt the global clothing supply chain in which we are a key player," he said.

Yunus was speaking at an assembly of diplomats and UN agency representatives in the capital Dhaka to set out the priorities of his caretaker administration.