Priyankara Jayaratne, State Minister for Foreign Employment Promotion and Market Diversification has said that steps have been taken to expedite the repatriation of 22,483 migrant workers from the Middle East under the program to repatriate migrant workers.

Accordingly, the Minister said that priority has been given to migrnat workers in the Middle East and that discussions have been held with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on the free repatriation of nearly 5,000 workers from Kuwait. They have given their consent and the final decision will be given at a meeting with the delegates on the 9th.

He said that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had instructed the expeditious repatriation of migrant workers and that the main problem was the issue of places to quarantine the incoming workers.

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