Bangladesh and Malaysia have agreed to address the problem of irregular movement of people, a reference to the rise of illegal migration in South-East Asia.
The consensus came in a meeting between Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Alin and his Malaysian counterpart Anifah Haji Aman in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, according to a message from foreign ministry, BSS reports.
"The two ministers agreed to closely work together for the permanent solution of the protracted problem," the message reads.
The Bangladesh foreign minister is now in Kuala Lumpur on a two-day visit in connection with the 22nd ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
The two foreign ministers discussed in detail the root cause of the irregular movement of people, which is the continuous persecution of Rohingya ethnic minority people being carried out in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.
Ali thanked his Malaysian counterpart for his help and assistance towards repatriation of the irregular migrants of Bangladesh.
The Malaysian foreign minister also thanked his Bangladesh counterpart for taking quick action on taking back its Bangladeshi nationals.
The two foreign ministers also discussed the status of recruitment of Bangladeshi workers on both G2G and B2B basis and felt the need for taking more positive measures to smoothen the process.
The Malaysian foreign minister expressed his deep satisfaction at the existing friendly bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Malaysia and hoped that the relations would be further strengthened in the years to come.
Besides, the Bangladesh foreign minister also met the foreign minister of Norway, the state ministers for foreign affairs of Japan and India to discuss various bilateral and regional issues on Wednesday.