India on Saturday asked Australia to relax travel restrictions for students who have not been able to attend university due to the coronav...
India on Saturday asked Australia to relax travel restrictions for students who have not been able to attend university due to the coronavirus crisis, PTI reported.
Presently, about 60,000 Indians are studying in Australia, AFP reported, quoting the country’s Foreign Minister Marisa Payne.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar took up the matter with Payne during the “2+2” ministerial meeting between the two countries in Delhi. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Australian counterpart Peter Dutton also participated in the dialogue.
“I specifically took up with Minister Payne the problems faced by Indian students in Australia and those wishing to go to Australia, as well as the Indian origin community that is resident there,” Jaishankar told media after the meeting.
The minister added that many Indian students wished to be at the institutes where they were enrolled or wanted to study.
He said: “I think their frustrations, their feelings are completely understandable. So we discussed it in some detail today. Minister Payne shared with me what Australia is thinking about when students will be able to come.”
Jaishankar said that resolving Indian students’ difficulties due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions was the government’s priority.
His Australian counterpart said she understood that the students wanted to experience life on campus. “I am one...
