DHAKA, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar and Bangladesh formed a Joint Working Group (JWG) on Tuesday for the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.
The 30-member committee was formed at a meeting between the two neighboring countries in Dhaka with 15 officials each from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali told journalists that the JWG will be headed by Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Huq for Bangladesh and the Myanmar side will be headed by Myanmar Foreign Ministry's Permanent Secretary Myint Thu.
The agreed Terms of Reference reportedly mandates the JWG to undertake all necessary measures to start the safe and voluntary return, resettlement and reintegration process of displaced Myanmar residents, as envisaged in the "Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State" signed by Foreign Minister Ali and U Kyaw Tint Swe, union minister for the Office of the State Counselor on Nov. 23
Over 600,000 Rohingya refugees have reportedly fled to Bangladesh since Aug. 25 following fresh violence in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.
