Muscat: Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, V Muralidharan, during his visit to Oman last week, met with the representatives of various Indian communities.
In his interaction at the Indian Embassy premises in Muscat, he lauded the efforts played by the community organisations, social workers and medical professionals in coming to the aid of the stranded Indian nationals during the pandemic time.
Muralidharan also met with his counterpart, the Foreign Minister of Oman, Sayyid Badr Bin Hamood Albusaidi wherein the two sides reviewed the cooperation on various facets of the strategic partnership including trade, investment and maritime security.
Legal migration
The support extended to the Indian diaspora by the Oman government during COVID-19 pandemic was also brought to the table. During his interaction with Oman’s Labour Minister Dr Mahad bin Saeed Baouin, Muralidharan thanked the minister for the amnesty scheme launched by Oman government. The ministers discussed among other topics, the skill development and promoting safe and legal migration.
As per the statistics shared by National Centre of Statistics and Information (NCSI), the year on year data since October reveals that there has been a reduction of about 21 per cent in the number of Indians working in Oman. Since the start of the pandemic situation early this year many Indians have left Oman for good, having lost their jobs and also due to losses in businesses.
The data from NCSI also shows that Indians are the second largest expatriate force living in the Sultanate of Oman, after Bangladeshis who are the first.
India is one of the countries among the 103 that are exempt from visa for ten days to Oman, as per a recent ruling from Oman government.
