Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Myanmar's President Thein Sein has deferred his maiden Bangladesh visit after sectarian violence and floods forced him to stay home to overcome domestic ordeals, officials said.
"Myanmar has requested us to reschedule the visit of the President due in the middle of this month, and now the visit is expected to take place after Ramadan," foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes told reporters in Dhaka on Sunday.
Replying to a question at a press briefing after the foreign secretary-level talks with Myanmar's Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Myint, the foreign secretary said “We’re now working on a fresh date for the visit of the Myanmar president.”
Another foreign ministry official said the temporary change of the schedule of President Thein Sein's visit should not be meant that the Myanmar leader was unwilling to visit Dhaka.
Rather, he said, the constitutional obligation has discouraged Myanmar's head of state to leave his country under emergency situation, now imposed in troubled Rakhine state due to sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims, dubbed one of the world's most persecuted ethnic minorities.
Thein Sein was scheduled to pay a three-day official visit from July 15 to 17 to neighbouring Bangladesh and discuss a wide range of issues that include repatriation of thousands of Myanmar Rohingya refugees as well as boosting trade and energy cooperation, and solving long outstanding bilateral problems.
BBN/SSR/AD=01Jult12-11:30 pm (BST)
