India-Syria Friendship: India gifts 2000 MT Rice to Syria
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Damascus, Feb 16: The Union govt has gifted 2000 metric tonnes of rice to Syria in a bid to strengthen the food security with the middle east countries. According to the statement of the Ministry of External Affairs, the first consignment of 1000 metric tonnes of rice has been handed over to Syria. India’s ambassador to Syria Hifzur Rahman handed over the consignment to the Minister of local administration and head of the Supreme Relief Committee.of Syria, Hussain Makhlouf.
The External Affairs ministry has further stated that, another consignment of 1000 metric tonnes is remaining and is expected to reach Syria on Feb 18. India is providing the help to Syria following the request from the Syrian govt for Emergency Humanitarian Assistance. Since the majority population of Syria falls below the poverty line, the war-scarred country has been struggling to meet ends of the needs of the people. The Ministry mentioned that the Indian govt has always stood in solidarity with the people of Syria and the bilateral engagement between the two nations have continued, even during the internal conflicts in the country, through a number of development and capacity building projects.
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India has provided several understated grants to Syria in the recent times. India gifted 10 metric tonnes of medicines to Syria as COVID assistance in July 2020. India had organized artificial limbs fitment camp in Damascus in Jan, 2020. More than 500 Syrians had benefited from the camp, that was organised by the Ministry of External Affairs in partnership with Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti. With the 'Study in India initiative,' during the academic years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, scholarships were extended to around 1000 Syrian students in order for them to pursue the Bachelors, Masters, and Post-doctoral programmes in the Indian universities. India is also establishing a NextGen Centre for Information Technology in Damascus and the preparatory work has already started.
India and Syria enjoy friendly political relations based on historic and civilizational links. Both countries have a secular, nationalist and developmental orientation, share similar perceptions on many international and regional issues and are a member of Non Alignment Movement (NAM). India's traditional support for just Arab causes notably the Palestinian cause and for the return of the occupied Golan Heights to Syria is appreciated by the Syrians.