ASEAN, Myanmar to implement practical measures on Rakhine situation

ASEAN and the Myanmar government agreed to immediately commence practical measures to alleviate the situation in Rakhine State following a high-level coordination meeting today in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.

Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Executive Director of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Management (AHA Centre) Adelina Kamal, and ASEAN delegation attended the 2nd High-Level Strategic Coordination Meeting with high-ranking officials of key ministries of Myanmar and Rakhine State.

They discussed the recommendations of the Preliminary Needs Assessment (PNA) and the plan for the Comprehensive Needs Assessment to facilitate the repatriation of displaced persons in Rakhine State. The meeting agreed to immediately implement a number of “low-hanging fruits” identified in the report, namely, to undertake in-country capacity building programme for ASEAN-Emergency Response and Assessment Team based in Myanmar to support the repatriation process when it commences; and to establish a technical working group, comprising representatives of the ASEAN Secretariat, the AHA Centre, the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine, the Department of Disaster Management, and other relevant Myanmar officials and experts, to discuss the detailed modalities of implementation of recommendations on the potential areas of collaboration identified in the PNA Report in Rakhine.

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