NEW DELHI: Over 11.2 lakh Indians have returned from abroad after the government launched the “Vande Bharat” evacuation mission on May 7 in view of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.
Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the bilateral air bubbles arrangements with US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, UAE, Qatar and Maldives are functioning well. An air bubble is a bilateral arrangement with a set of regulations in which the carriers of the two countries can operate international flights.
Referring to an announcement by the Minister of Civil Aviation earlier this week, Srivastava said negotiations on air travel arrangements with 18 more countries — Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka — are ongoing. This will benefit stranded Indians and nationals of these countries, he said at an online briefing. “As on August 19, 2020, 11.23 lakh Indians stranded abroad have been repatriated by different modes under the Vande Bharat Mission,” Srivastava said. (PTI)
