India urges U.K to recognize vaccine certificates of travelers from India

Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday urged his U.K counterpart Elizabeth Truss to work expeditiously on recognition of the vaccine certificates issued by the government of India to make the arrival of Indian travelers in the U.K hassle free.

“Urged early resolution of quarantine issue in mutual interests,” Jaishankar tweeted after his meeting with Truss in New York, where both of them arrived to take part in the meetings related to the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

According to the Deccan Herald, the issue is likely to come up again when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have a bilateral meeting with his UK counterpart Boris Johnson in Washington D.C. later this week.

Earlier, the U.K had avoided Indian vaccines such as Covishield and other indigenous vaccines from list of valid vaccines category. The decision drew lot of criticisms as the travelers from India would be considered unvaccinated and would have to undergo compulsory quarantine and tests. As the travelers from India include major number of students, it would become difficult for them to incur the expenses of tests and quarantine.

As a reciprocal move, India had denied e-visas for British Citizens.