Sri Lanka Embassy facilitates repatriation of over 6,000 migrant workers from Kuwait

Wednesday, 28 April 2021 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Embassy in Kuwait continues to facilitate repatriation of Sri Lankan migrant workers and other Sri Lankans who were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, under the guidance of Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Foreign Secretary Admiral Professor Jayanath Colombage. The embassy has repatriated over 6,000 of the 9,000 Sri Lankans registered with the embassy.

This repatriation process has been facilitated by the embassy in coordination with the Presidential Secretariat, the Foreign Ministry, the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak, the Ministry of Labour, State Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Market Diversification, the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), SriLankan Airlines, and the relevant Kuwait authorities. The returnees included Sri Lankan migrant workers held at the Kuwait Government Deportation Centre, the Kuwait Government Shelter and the Safe House maintained by the embassy.

With the support of Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Namal Rajapaksa and Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga, free government quarantine facilities were arranged for the returnees from the Kuwait Government Deportation Centre and for the migrant workers accommodated at the Embassy Safe House.

The SLBFE, as per the advice of Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva and Foreign Employment Promotions and Market Diversification State Minister Piyankara Jayaratne, provides free hotel quarantine facilities to migrant workers returning from Middle East, with 150 returnees who left Kuwait on 12 April receiving such facilities.

The embassy, in coordination with several airlines in the region that operate from Kuwait to Sri Lanka, was able to bring down the repatriation package for migrant workers to Kuwait Dinar 250, which is inclusive of one PCR test in Kuwait, airfare, two PCR tests in Colombo and quarantine charges for seven days, with the understanding that the embassy would facilitate approval from the Foreign Ministry for the passengers list submitted by the relevant airlines. In the past, the embassy had distributed 5,400 dry ration packs among the destitute Sri Lankans in Kuwait with financial assistance provided from the Foreign Ministry, the SLBFE and charity organisations in Kuwait.