Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid has revealed the government plans to repatriate 400 undocumented expatriate workers from the Maldives during every week of July.
Speaking to PSM News, Foreign Minister Shahid said the biggest challenge faced by the administration amid the COVID-19 pandemic was to reduce the risk of transmission among undocumented expatriates living in congested spaces. The minister criticised previous governments for their failure to address the issue of the large numbers of undocumented expatriates living in the Maldives, adding senior officials of previous governments played an active part in bringing in uncontrolled amounts of expatriates. He noted the current government began work on resolving the issue with a lot of courage and determination, considering the scale of the problem.
Noting 2,689 undocumented expatriates have been repatriated from the Maldives so far, the foreign minister said additional expatriates would be repatriated this week as well. The minister added arrangements have been made upon discussions with the government of Bangladesh to repatriate 400 undocumented Bangladeshi workers across two flights operated every week in July. He noted the Bangladeshi government has pledged to fully support the efforts of the Maldives in addressing the issue of undocumented workers.
The government had earlier revealed over 5,000 undocumented workers would be repatriated from the Maldives within 3 months.