Boat people offered temporary shelter at Malaysia meet

Much anticipated boat people talks finished Wednesday afternoon in Malaysia with the host country agreeing with neighboring Indonesia to shelter the Bangladeshis and Rohingya on board for up to one year.

In a joint statement, the two countries said they had agreed to offer temporary shelter to irregular migrants providing the international community takes responsibilty for resettling them after one year.

Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Anifah Aman said that his country would issue immediate instruction to maritime authorities to provide humanitarian assistance to migrant boats.

The statement added that both countries would continue to help the "7,000 irregular migrants still at sea."

Foreign ministers from Malaysia and Indonesia were joined by the third country at the meeting, Thailand, in strongly condemning people smuggling and human trafficking.

They agreed to resolve the influx of irregular migrants in the spirit of Association of Southeast Asian Nations solidarity.

Anadolu Agency