Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said recently that ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi had reported at an ASEAN foreign ministers’ retreat on Thursday that two of the four priority projects under the bloc’s 2019 preliminary needs assessment had been implemented and that the other two were still under discussion. She did not provide details on the projects, which aim to help Myanmar prepare for the repatriation.

An ad hoc support team made up of members of the ASEAN Secretariat and the Myanmar government are pursuing additional project proposals, which include plans for road infrastructure, health, education and livestock.

Indonesia has requested that the ASEAN Secretariat and Myanmar begin working on a comprehensive needs assessment, the next stage of engagement, which will cover measures to begin the repatriation process.

“Indonesia also hopes that the Myanmar government can quickly create conducive conditions in Rakhine, so that voluntary, safe and dignified repatriation can be carried out quickly,” Retno said during a recent press briefing.

The repeated calls from Indonesia came as Myanmar softened its stance on repatriation after sitting down with China and Bangladesh in a meeting earlier this week. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui attended the meeting virtually from Beijing, with delegations from Bangladesh and Myanmar, The Daily Star reported.

Bangladesh, which has borne the brunt of the massive exodus of 730,000 Rohingya from Myanmar’s Rakhine state following a military crackdown in 2017, has insisted that Myanmar begin accepting Rohingya back into its territory in the coming months. In Bangladesh, most Rohingya refugees live in one of 34 refugee camps in and around Cox’s Bazar.

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