Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with representatives from South Asian countries on Rohingya refugees; and what the outcome of those discussions has been.

On 20 May, I met the Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary to stress the need for Bangladesh to work within the region to address people trafficking and irregular migration. Bangladesh has agreed to accept Bangladeshi migrants back, and this process is already taking place. Long term, there will need to be both a political solution to the status of the Rohingya in Burma, which we are encouraging, and an effective strategy to address the urgent development needs of the region. The UK’s programme in Bangladesh was £190m in 2014/15. By 2015, this programme will help lift 1.5m people out of extreme poverty.