Hope countries will lift curbs on India soon, says MEA on international travel

The Union ministry of external affairs (MEA) on Thursday said it hopes that other countries would ease the travel restrictions on India with the Covid-19 situation in the country “vastly improved". The ministry also said that the issue is being taken up with partners including those in the Gulf.

“As we have said earlier, we hope that with the vastly improved Covid situation in India, countries would ease restrictions for travel from India. We have been taking up this issue with foreign partners wherever possible,” news agency PTI quoted Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson for the external ministry, as saying. Bagchi said this in response to a question about the problems faced by Indian citizens travelling abroad, especially to Gulf countries.

Highlighting a recent meeting between external affairs minister S Jaishankar, minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan and the Indian ambassadors in the Gulf nations, Bagchi said, “Our Ambassadors were requested to take up with their host countries the issue of resumption of flights with India."

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Also, he mentioned that Jaishankar raised this issue during his bilateral meetings with representatives from other countries on the sidelines of the G-20 ministerial meetings in Italy, which concluded recently. Further, Bagchi also said that foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla too had raised this issue with his counterparts.

Normalisation of travel and the mobility of students, professionals and for enabling family reunions were among the issues discussed by Shringla, Bagchi mentioned. “So, in summary, we are actively trying to help Indians who need to travel back to various countries across the world,” he assured.

Meanwhile, Oman has suspended passenger flights from 24 countries across the world, including India, on Thursday, according to a news report by PTI. The country has suspended all flights indefinitely. Alongside India, flights from the UK, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil have also been suspended.

However, some other countries like Canada and Germany have also relaxed their curbs on travel, conditional on full immunisation against the disease (two doses of vaccines) and a negative Covid-19 report.

(With PTI inputs)