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.

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.

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.

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.