He said this during the Cabinet media briefing held at the Government Information Department earlier today. He said that the proposal submitted to the Cabinet by the Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena had received approval.

Therefore, he said that from May (21) migrant workers and Sri Lankans from Indonesia will be repatriated, Students from Russia will be repatriated from May 22 and from May 23rd Sri Lankans at high risk in Bangladesh will be repatriated. On May 26th Sri Lankan migrant workers from Qatar will be repatriated and from May 28th students studying in Belarus will be brought back home.

Thereafter, Sri Lankans in the Middle East and the Maldives will be repatriated, said Minister Ramesh Pathirana, adding that around 6,870 Sri Lankans living in the Maldives have appealed to the government to bring them back home. Hence, he said that the President had his attention focussed on bringing these Sri Lankans back home from the Maldives and the Middle East.

He said that arrangements are being made to repatriate around 11,000 Sri Lankans who are on short term visas in foreign countries, but added that Sri Lanka would not send special aircrafts to bring them back. However, arrangements will be made to bring them back in a systematic manner and Cabinet approval has been obtained for it