MAE: 85 Romanian citizens return to country from Saudi Arabia on the night of Sunday to Monday

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) informs that during the night of Sunday to Monday it facilitated the return to the country of 85 Romanian citizens who were on the territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as a result of the joint efforts of the Ministry Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Communications and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The efforts of the Romanian authorities also facilitated the repatriation of three Serbian citizens and four Hungarian citizens, who continued their route to the destination countries, according to an MAE release.

The repatriation was ensured with a special flight operated by the Tarom company, on the route Bucharest-Riyadh-Bucharest.

The action follows the steps taken to facilitate the return to the country of Romanian citizens who are temporarily abroad and who have been affected by the measures to restrict air transport adopted in the context of the management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The MAE firmly renews its previous calls to avoid any foreign travel that is not absolutely essential. Such trips can pose major risks, endangering the safety of citizens and their ability to return to the country.

Also, the MAE calls on the Romanian citizens with the domicile or residence abroad to strictly follow the recommendations of the authorities in these states and emphasizes that travel to Romania must be completely avoided during this period. All these travels are increasingly affected by the restrictions imposed by the transit states, which determine that the possibilities of assistance from the Romanian authorities be considerably reduced, more and more, and can be an additional factor for the spread of the infection with COVID-19, thus endangering the safety of the respective Romanian citizens and of those at home.