In a recent letter to Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen, Myanmar's Minister for International Cooperation Kyaw Tin made the remarks.

The Myanmar minister said Naypyitaw wants to resolve any bilateral issues on the basis of mutual partnership with neighboring countries.

At a tripartite meeting between China, Myanmar and Bangladesh held on January 19, he expressed hope for the speedy repatriation of the displaced Rohingya people of Myanmar.

Kyaw Tin said that like the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, he also felt the need for mutual solidarity and cooperation among different nations around the world in tackling the unprecedented challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Myanmar Minister mentioned the return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar in 1978 and 1992 on the basis of mutual talks.

The 1970s Exodus: Operation Nagamin

Shortly after General Ne Win and his Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) came to power in 1962, the government began to dissolve Rohingya social and political organizations, according to reports.

"In 1977, Burmese immigration and military authorities conducted what they called Operation Nagamin (Dragon King), a national effort to register citizens and screen out foreigners prior to a national census. By May 1978, more than 200,000 Rohingya had fled to Bangladesh: this, the Burmese authorities claimed, signified the Rohingya's illegal status in Burma," said a Human Rights Watch report.

"Refugees reported that the Burmese army had forcibly evicted them and alleged widespread army brutality, rape and murder. The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Bangladeshi government supplied emergency relief but were quickly overwhelmed. The Bangladeshi government requested assistance from the United Nations and soon thirteen camps for the refugees were established along the border," it read.

Soon, Bangladesh and Myanmar engaged in dialogues to reslove the issue.

"The United Nations also urged the Burmese leadership to allow the Rohingya's repatriation. U.N. officials hinted that a flow of aid, which the Ne Win government in Burma was pursuing through a more open foreign policy, would be more readily accessible should the ruling Burmese Socialist Programme Party agree to the returns."

"The Burmese government relented and the Rohingya began to go home. At first, in the early months of the program, few refugees opted for repatriation, but the number increased when the Bangladeshi government allowed camp conditions to decline and restricted food rations," the report added.

The Arakan Exodus

In between 1991 and 1992 more than 250,000 Rohingya refugees fled forced labor, rape and religious persecution at the hands of the Burmese army. 

With the help of aid agencies and the Bangladeshi government, the refugees were given sheltered in nineteen camps in the vicinity of Cox's Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh.

"The Rohingya repatriation, which the Bangladeshi and Burmese governments began in September 1992, was troubled from the outset, as Human Rights Watch and other organizations have previously reported," it said.

"Following reports of forced repatriation, UNHCR began to monitor a proportion of the returns in October 1992 but withdrew its support in December 1992 when it became clear that coercion was continuing. UNHCR then agreed a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Bangladeshi government and in May 1993 began to interview refugees individually in order to ensure that the Bangladeshi authorities were respecting the principle of voluntariness."

"When a UNHCR survey revealed that less than 30% of the Rohingya wished to repatriate, however, the Bangladeshi government responded by insisting that all of the Rohingya should return by the end of 1994 and allowing the MOU with UNHCR to expire in July 1994.

"The same year, UNHCR gained access to the return sites located in the Buthidaung, Rathedaung, and Maungdaw townships of Arakan State; this, it insisted, would facilitate the safe return of the Rohingya because UNHCR could now monitor what became of them.

"UNHCR then abandoned its system of individual interviews with refugees in August 1994 in favor of a program of mass repatriation in which thousands of Rohingya returned to Burma each week. Initially, however, UNHCR representatives were not permitted to travel within Arakan state without prior clearance from the Burmese government, and the latter also failed to provide a firm commitment that it would recognize the rights of the Rohingya to Burmese citizenship," the HRW report read.

"At the time, Human Rights Watch questioned the accuracy of the information about conditions in Arakan which UNHCR provided to the refugees and noted the concerns expressed by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved with the repatriation that it was being conducted in 'less than optimum conditions'. Even so, between 1993 and 1997, some 230,000 refugees returned to Arakan," it said.