GENEVA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, on Monday began his five-day visit to Myanmar, the first visit by the UN refugee chief to Myanmar since August 2017.

A news release from Grandi's office said the UN official is scheduled to spend the first two days in Myanmar's Rakhine State where he will visit some local communities and meet with state and district officials.

Later in the week, the UN refugee chief is scheduled meet senior Myanmar government officials in the capital Nay Pyi Taw.

This week's visit to Myanmar comes on the heels of the High Commissioner's mission to Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh at the end of April.

UN figures showed that more than 900,000 stateless Rohingya refugees currently live in crowded settlements in Bangladesh's border region of Cox's Bazar, of whom an estimated 741,000 fled from Myanmar since August 2017.