Bangladesh does a great deal to fight terrorism and illegal immigration, and at the same time, copes well with providing shelter for Rohingya refugees, Balázs Orbán, Parliamentary and Strategic State Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office – who is currently conducting talks in Bangladesh – said summarising his experiences.
Talking to the Hungarian news agency MTI by telephone, the State Secretary said Bangladesh with a territory of just one and a half times that of Hungary, but with a population of 160 million is facing major challenges; yet, its political system is stable, and its economy has grown by 7 per cent for years now. The Deputy Minister highlighted that the primary purpose of the Hungarian delegation’s visit is to establish high-level relations with the government of Bangladesh. Mr Orbán had talks with a state secretary of the Foreign Ministry, a state secretary of the Interior Ministry, the deputy minister for disaster management and the police chief, among others.
In his view, Bangladesh’s leadership is doing a great deal for the fight against terrorism, and for preventing radicalisation within the population where Muslims represent 90 per cent. While the country is struggling with a population explosion, from its own resources as well as with international assistance, the Asian country’s government adequately provides for the more than one million Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh from the neighbouring Myanmar. Mr Orbán – who has been to many refugee camps around the world – visited Rohingya camps in the southern part of the country where, in his view, while life is difficult, circumstances are satisfactory by international standards.
The State Secretary said the goal is to extend the Hungary Helps government programme in Bangladesh. The Hungarian aid programme already has bridgeheads – for instance, in Dhaka a team of medical specialists perform special medical interventions – and additionally the Hungarian government provides scholarships for students from Bangladesh, but so far the programme has primarily focused on the Middle East and countries lying South of the Sahara, and less on Bangladesh, Mr Orbán said.