31 October
Union Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr Win Myat Aye attended and delivered an opening speech at the second technical working group meeting on the implementation of Preliminary Needs Assessment’s Recommendations prepared by ASEAN-ERAT in April 2019.
In his speech, the Union Minister updated the TWG members about the progress of the Ministry’s endeavors for Rakhine State including but not limited to the adoption of Rakhine Joint Assessment Report (RJA) and the National Strategy for the Closure of IDP Camps and Resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons. The Union Minister emphasized the ongoing efforts on the social and economic development of Rakhine State through UEHRD and the MoU with UNDP and UNHCR. He also encouraged TWG members to review those ongoing projects and programmes in order to avoid duplications and effectively fulfill the remaining gaps for the local communities. The Union Minister Dr Win Myat Aye also spoke about the second anniversary of UEHRD and the comment made by State Counsellor at the event that solving a regional problem successfully with the collaborative efforts leaves experiences for addressing other global issues. He additionally highlighted that from the issues and challenges that the Government has encountered since 2017, a lot of experiences of both good and bad are acquired and he also stressed, “once we have experiences, the challenge will no longer be a new one to us. Actually it is the challenge that brings us together and makes us stronger. Moreover, our country can also be seen as a family, if someone is not ok in the family, other family members need to look after and support each other. In some cases, we might even need help from our neighbors. The same for Rakhine affairs and we have worked together for Rakhine State as the national concern. In this sense, we cannot forget the support and assistance of our friendly countries and partners. Especially, I cannot thank enough both ASEAN Secretariat and AHA Centre for your lasting support and closest cooperation with the Department of Disaster Management since the beginning of our journey.”
The Union Minister further shared with the TWG members about the current efforts on repatriation process and very recent Coordination Meeting held in Rakhine State, and called for the TWG’s consideration on the support of repairing the existing houses and reconstructing new houses for the resettlement of the displaced persons who remained in Rakhine State after the violence happened in Maungtaw in 2017.
After that, TWG members discussed the proposed projects, ASEAN side sought clarification for detail information and TWG’s chair, Dr Ko Ko Naing, Director General of Department of Disaster Management undertook overall coordination. During the second TWG meeting, seven priority projects were identified and would be implemented as the first step.
MNA
