India gifts Syria 2000 metric tonnes of rice to enhance their food security

India has gifted Syria 2000 metric tonnes of rice with the intent of strengthening food security for the middle-eastern country. The first batch of 1000 metric tonnes of rice was given by India Ambassador to Syria, Hifzur Rahman  to the Minister of Local Administration and Head of Supreme Relief Committee Hussain Makhlouf on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs revealed in a statement on Friday.

The other second half of 1000 metric tonnes of rice is anticipated to land to Syria as scheduled on February 18. The rice supply is directed to Syria after response to the request from the Syrian Government fir emergency humanitarian help.

The statement read, “India and Syria have historically enjoyed close and friendly relations.”

According to the Ministry, the Indian government has always, “stood in solidarity with the people of Syria, and our bilateral engagement has continued apace even during the years of internal conflict there through a number of development and capacity building projects.”

It was in the Arab Spring of 2011, when Syria was having a civil war, a move for a peaceful uprising which would go against the President of the Country, Bashar al –Assad. The war has aggravated from there on and taken the lives of several people, disrupted the cities, hampered the global politics and spurring diplomatic questions which are on the edge with the ongoing warfare.

In July 2020, India had given a gift of 10 metric tonnes of medicines to help them with the then severe conditions of Covid-19 pandemic. For the academic year 2018-19 and 2019-20, Syrian students pursuing bachelors, masters and post-doctoral programmes in several Indian universities were offered 1000 scholarships as ‘Study in India’ initiative.

India further plans to introduce NextGen Centre for Information and Technology base in Damascus, for which preparatory work has been started.

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