Indonesian authorities are set to return an ailing French national who has been on death row in the Southeast Asian country, under an arrangement between the two nations.

Indonesia was set to repatriate a Frenchman on Tuesday who has spent two decades on death row for drug offences, a senior minister said, joining a list of long-term prisoners sent home by Jakarta in recent months.

A Frenchman on death row in Indonesia since 2007 for drug offences left prison on Tuesday ahead of his transfer to France, officials told French news agency AFP.

Indonesia has signed a deal to send home an ailing French national on death row for drug offenses. Serge Atlaoui, 61, has spent almost 20 years in an Indonesian prison.

Indonesia has handed over to French authorities a man on death row for drug offences who will start his return to his home country late on Tuesday, the latest in a series of foreign drug convicts repatriated from the Southeast Asian nation.

A French national held on death row in Indonesia since 2007 for drug offences is returning to France on Tuesday as part of an agreement made between both countries. Serge Atlaoui, 61, was accused of being a "chemist" by Indonesian authorities and arrested in 2005 at a factory in Jakarta, where dozens of kilos (pounds) of drugs were found.

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia and France signed an agreement on Friday on the repatriation of a Frenchman on death row for drug offences, a senior Indonesian minister said.

Indonesia and France have signed an agreement to repatriate a French citizen who was facing the death penalty over drug offenses. Serge Atlaoui has been in jail in Indonesia since 2005.

French national Serge Atlaoui is set to go home after he spent two decades on death row in an Indonesian prison for alleged drug offenses.

Indonesian authorities have escorted an ailing French national who has been on death row to the airport in Jakarta as his return to France got underway following an agreement between the two nations.