Paris: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has met his counterparts from Bangladesh, South Korea, the Czech Republic and the European Union in Paris, discussing issues of mutual interest and ways to step up bilateral engagement. Jaishankar, who arrived here from Germany on Sunday on a three-day visit to France, has held a series of meetings with his counterparts from other Indo-Pacific countries participating in the EU Indo-Pacific Forum. The minister met his Bangladeshi counterpart Dr. A K Abdul Momen in Paris on Monday on the eve of the EU Ministerial Forum on Cooperation with the Indo-Pacific.
"Good meeting with Bangladesh FM Dr. AK Abdul Momen. Appropriate that it should be on International Mother Language Day. Noted that 2021 was a great year for the relationship. Committed to taking it to an even higher level in 2022," Jaishankar tweeted. In a statement on Tuesday, Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said that both the ministers agreed that the year 2021 marked a high point in bilateral relations with the visits of the Indian President and Prime Minister to participate in the "Mujib Chironton" events. The two ministers also recalled the successful events held in 18 cities around the world to observe the "Moitri Dibosh" or Friendship Day on December 6, 2021, the statement said.
Jaishankar invited his Bangladesh counterpart to the next iteration of the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) during the first half of the year. The two ministers also stressed the need for concluding meetings of the relevant Joint Working Groups prior to the JCC meeting, it said. Momen urged India to remain engaged with the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, including in the latter's capacity as a member of the UN Security Council, the statement said. Bangladesh and Myanmar last month resumed talks on repatriation of displaced Rohingya refugees back to their homeland, nearly a year after the dialogue was suspended following a military takeover of the neighbouring country. Over a million Rohingyas fled Myanmar to Bangladesh since a military clampdown began there in August 2017 to oust a predominantly Muslim ethnic group from their homeland at Rakhine state. On Monday, Jaishankar met Chung Eui-yong, his South Korean counterpart.
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