India taking up issue of normalising travel of citizens with concerned countries: MEA

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said while some countries have eased travel restrictions on Indians travelling to their countries some countries are yet to do so, and the Government of India is taking up the issue with those countries.

"The issue of normalising travel of Indian citizens abroad has been and is being taken up with the concerned authorities in other countries," he said at the weekly briefing.

"Given that there has been a significant improvement in the Covid situation in India, we have seen some countries taking positive steps in this regard. We will continue to press for further measures from all the other countries," he said.

Separately, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan told Parliament on Thursday that COVID-19-related travel restrictions have been eased for Indian students by countries including the US, the UK, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands, and more countries are expected to open up when the situation improves.

In written replies to questions in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister said the MEA has been making efforts to ease travel restrictions for Indians enrolled in foreign universities.

“Our missions abroad have been actively taking up these issues with the respective governments and have been impressing upon those governments to ease the travel restrictions. Also the issue of travel restrictions has been taken up at the ministerial level with several countries,” he said.