Kuwait to provide full cooperation to India's mega evacuation plan to bring back its citizens

Kuwait will provide all cooperation to India's massive evacuation plan to bring back Indians wanting to return to their country in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Gulf country's envoy here said on Friday.

The Indian government is working on a mega plan to deploy a raft of naval ships as well as military and commercial aircraft to evacuate thousands of Indians stranded in the Gulf and other regions after the nationwide lockdown ends, official sources had said on Wednesday.

The government has already reached out to several states asking them to make necessary arrangements for the Indians when they are brought back home under the multi-agency operation.

Kuwait Ambassador to India Jassem Al-Najem extended his gratitude and appreciation to the Indian government for the facilities provided to evacuate Kuwaiti citizens stranded in India last Friday and Saturday through Kuwait Airways airlines.

The Ambassador also thanked the Indian government for sending a 15-member medical team and providing two tonnes of medical equipment by a special military aircraft which reached Kuwait on April 11 as a humanitarian gesture to help fight the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

The Indian medical team in coordination with its Kuwaiti counterparts carried out its work for two weeks, the Kuwaiti Embassy said in a statement.

The Ambassador highly appreciated the Indian government's gestures to continue supply of medicine including Paracetamol tablets and foods to Kuwait, the statement said.

Ambassador Al-Najem highlighted the Kuwaiti government's efforts to evacuate all illegal workers of different nationalities, including Indian nationals who were granted general amnesty by Kuwait and offered to send them back to their respective countries free of cost and by its own civil airlines.

Kuwait is looking forward to working with the Indian government to implement its massive evacuation plan to bring back the Indians who are willing to come back voluntarily to India after the complete lockdown ends, the statement said.

Earlier, the Ambassador had reiterated in a press statement made to the Kuwait News Agency lauding the historic relationship between Kuwait and India.

The joint committee meeting between the two countries was scheduled for the first quarter this year but due to the coronavirus, has forced postponement of the meeting and Kuwait and India are working on a new date mutually acceptable.