Myanmar hopes for deal with Bangladesh on Rohingya refugees: Suu Kyi

A military clearance operation launched in Myanmar’s Rakhine State has driven more than 600,000 Rohingya out of the Buddhist-majority country since late August

Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Tuesday she hopes talks with Bangladesh this week will result in a memorandum of understanding on the “safe return” of Rohingya Muslims who fled to Bangladesh in the past three months.

Myanmar's State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, center, smiles during the closing ceremony of the Asia Europe Foreign Ministers (ASEM) at Myanmar International Convention Centre (MICC) Tuesday in Naypyitaw. (AP)

A military clearance operation launched in Myanmar’s Rakhine State has driven more than 600,000 Rohingya out of the Buddhist-majority country since late August.

Suu Kyi spoke to reporters at the end of a meeting of senior officials at an Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM, in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw, where the crisis in Rakhine was discussed on the sidelines of official talks.