Govt. in discussion to recommence repatriation process with weekly flights

The Government is considering recommencing repatriation flights for Sri Lankans stranded overseas due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the The Morning newspaper, nearly 45,000 Sri Lankans are yet to be repatriated from the Middle East and other countries.

Media Director of the Sri Lanka Bureau for Foreign Employment (SLBFE) P. Randeniya said that the Government was in the process of developing a plan to recommence the repatriation process.

As per the plan, the Government expects to operate one plane per week with between 200- 300 passengers.

Randeniya added that the decision to expand the number of flights for the process will be taken by the National Operations Centre for the Prevention of COVID-19 after monitoring the situation in this regard.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said that Sri Lanka has repatriated over 40,000 Sri Lankans, including 17,861 migrant workers from the Middle East alone during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Foreign Minister stated this at the Launch of the Sri Lanka Chapter of the United Nations Global Network on Migration yesterday (11).

Over 98,000 Sri Lankans have registered to the ‘Contact Sri Lanka’ web portal that was launched during the ‘first wave’ of the coronavirus outbreak.

Those who have registered are across the Middle East, Southern Europe and to the Far East, Malaysia, Korea and Japan, he added.