Dialling the Gulf that PM Modi describes as extended neighbourhood

New Delhi, Dec 07: As part of India's continuing outreach to Gulf countries, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will travel to Qatar and Kuwait, while his deputy V Muraleedharan would visit Oman later this month.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described the Gulf outreach as India's extended neighbourhood. Officials tell OneIndia that these visits are important and India shares a close and multi-faceted relationship with the Gulf. The exact dates of the visit are being worked out the official cited above also said.

The main focus of the visit would be to protect the interests of Indian workers employed in the West Asian countries. The pandemic had disrupted economic activity, following which the global economy plunged into contraction. India has been asking the Gulf nations to open the doors to thousands of workers who returned during the pandemic.

During the peak of pandemic India's outreach to the Gulf nations was widely appreciated. India not only sent medicines, but medical teams. While the UAE was asking migrants to go back, India had called on both Kuwait and the UAE to go slow on this issue as the state governments did not have the infrastructure to deal with the same. The request was honoured.