Govt pursuing return of Indian workers with Gulf nations: Jaishankar

February 03, 2022 18:41

The government is working to ensure that Indian workers are back to their work and jobs in the Gulf and is pursuing the issue with its counterparts in the region at the highest level, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

He also said with the economic recovery in the Gulf and its increasing openness to ease travel restrictions following a receding trend in COVID-19 cases, many Indian workers are now returning back to the region.

As per the government's estimates, as many as 7,16,662 workers returned to India from the six Gulf countries --- the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain -- under the Vande Bharat Mission'.

"I would like to inform...We have engaged with the governments of the Gulf. This engagement is led by the prime minister himself. In the course of the last two years, during the COVID period, the prime minister has had 16 telephonic conversations with his counterparts, the leaders of the Gulf countries," Jaishankar said while replying to supplementary questions in the House during the Question Hour.

He said he has visited the Gulf countries 13 times and Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan four times.

"Our objective is to get as many workers back there as possible, as many of them back to their old jobs," Jaishankar said. -- PTI

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