The term "small ethnic groups" should not be used to identify the country's indigenous communities as it is vague, and the debate about the terminologies needs to be resolved soon to integrate them with mainstream people, said Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon.

He said this at a discussion "Mountain Cultures: Celebrating Diversity and Strengthening Identity", organised by the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs at the capital’s International Mother Language Institute on the occasion oflnternational Mountain Day 2016.

The identity for the minority communities is as important as that of the Bangalees, he stressed.

He also said the land dispute issue that was a major problem in the CHT, should be dissolved.

Bureaucratic complexities are among the factors impeding the implementation of the CHT peace accord, Menon observed.

Naba Bikram Kishore Tripura, secretary to the ministry, and BirBahadurUshwe, state minister forCHT affairs, also spoke.

After the discussion, Menon inaugurated a "mountain fair" organised by the ministry at CHT Complex on the capital's Bailey Road, to be continued till December 15.