Myanmar on Friday welcomed the Bangladeshi government’s plan to begin the long-delayed process of repatriating Rohingya refugees back to Rakhine State in the near future, the Associated Press reports. The repatriation agreement of hundreds of thousands refugees were signed November last year, but it has been delayed since with various reasons. But in April, Myanmar says it has repatriated the first Rohingya refugees from among nearly 700,000 who fled a crackdown in the country last year despite warnings from the United Nations that it was not yet safe to return, according to The Independent. Rights groups have criticized the announcement as a publicity stunt and Bangladesh has distanced itself, saying the repatriation was not part of the return process the two countries have been trying to start.