India urges Australia to address difficulties faced by students due to travel restrictions

New Delhi [India], September 11 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday took up problems faced by Indian students in Australia with Foreign Minister Marise Payne and urged that the difficulty faced by students due to travel restrictions be sympathetically addressed as soon as possible.

Talking to the media after the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue with Australia, Jaishankar said he specifically took up with minister Payne the problems faced by the Indian students in Australia and those wishing to go to Australia as well as the Indian origin community that is there.

"I urge that difficulty faced by students due to travel restrictions be sympathetically addressed as soon as possible," he said.

Payne said there is a shared desire to see that travel resumes between the two countries as soon as it is safe to do so.

"I look forward to being one of the people at the airport to welcome the first arrivals of Indian students coming back to Australia," she said.

"There are over 60,000 Indian students in Australia. But I do definitely understand the desire that those students and their families who are not able to be there have for the on-campus experience and in-country life," she added.

The agenda for the 2+2 dialogue included bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest. (ANI)