India has called upon Governments around the world to ensure that interests of foreign students are protected and movement of stranded seafarers back to their home country facilitated.
Participating in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Extraordinary virtual Meeting, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar also proposed development of voluntary ‘G20 Principles on Coordinated Cross-Border Movement of People’ in the backdrop of Covid-19.
These principles are based on three elements. Standardisation of testing procedures and universal acceptability of test results, Standardisation of ‘Quarantine procedures’ and Standardisation of ‘movement and transit’ protocols.
He also highlighted the steps taken by India in the wake of the pandemic. This virtual meeting was convened in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
Dr. Jaishankar apprised the G20 Foreign Ministers about the steps taken by India including Vande Bharat Mission and creation of ‘travel bubbles’ for the welfare and protection of foreign citizens stranded here as well as its own citizens abroad. The meeting was convened by the current G20 Chair, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al-Saud, chaired the meeting.
The discussions centred on strengthening international cooperation across borders in the wake of COVID-19 crisis. The Ministers also exchanged national experiences and lessons learned from the cross-border management measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemics.