Argentina appreciates Qatar's support for the repatriation of its citizens. Joint work that reflects the trust and strong relationship between our two countries.
His Excellency Carlos Hernandez, Ambassador of the Republic of Argentina to Doha, valued Qatar's support for the return of the country’s citizens stranded on commercial and humanitarian flights of Qatar Airways.
In comments to Al-Raya, before closing the border in Argentina, he said, Qatar Airways has already facilitated the return of many Argentine citizens from Southeast Asia on its commercial flights. On May 7, the first humanitarian flight of Qatar Airways in the region was conducted for our citizens, as a large number of them were transferred to Sao Paulo Airport in Brazil, and from there they continued their flight with the national airline, Argentine Airlines, to Buenos Aires. None of this would have been possible without the strong support of the Qatar Airways group. For this reason, I would like to express my sincere thanks to its CEO, HE Mr. Akbar Al Baker, and Mr. Fathi Ati, Senior Vice President, Aviation and Regulatory Policy, Qatar Airways, for their tremendous cooperation in achieving this goal.
The Argentine Ambassador said that Qatar Airways not only assisted it by transporting these people from Doha, but added its cooperation to bring them to Doha from the following countries: Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, as well as Argentines stranded here in the State of Qatar. The Argentine specialists are conducting joint talks with the Qatar Airways authorities and the Qatar embassy in Argentina to explore the possibility of operating some direct humanitarian flights, whose final destination will be Buenos Aires, in order to rescue all Argentines stranded in Southeast Asia and Australia as soon as possible. All this joint work demonstrates the trust and strong bilateral relationship between Argentina and Qatar.
The Ambassador started his remarks by saying that the epidemic caused by the spread of the Corona virus (Covid-19) has caused many despaires in the world. All countries have been affected in one way or another. Many of our citizens were surprised at various places abroad. As a result of this situation, the Argentine government closed its borders on Friday 27 March, especially in everything related to international passenger flights. This closure continues, with the exception of repatriation trips and rescue flights for Argentine citizens stranded abroad, via humanitarian flights.
He added: More than 35,000 Argentine citizens have almost lost hope of returning on the dates set. Many of them began returning to our homeland through the national airline, Argentine Airlines, in those destinations where they used to fly. However, in Southeast Asia, about 3,000 Argentines, who were not in our airline's flight range, were not immediately
rescued.
As you can imagine, it is difficult to understand this situation for those who have little money to live and eat and not be able to see their children and their families and loved ones, as well as those who have health problems and need medical drugs and those who have problems in their jobs.
