“Cooperation with Iraq on the voluntary return of Iraqis is going smoothly, but we want more active assistance from Iraq in accepting its citizens whose asylum applications have been rejected and who would be forcibly expelled from Lithuania,” said the head of Lithuanian diplomacy.
As the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, Landsberg discussed these issues in New York with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.
Speaking about the challenges of the cold season for migrants entering the territory of Lithuania, the representatives of the countries agreed to continue organizing consular missions of the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lithuania, issuing travel documents to persons crossing the Lithuanian border illegally and helping them return to their country.
According to the ministry, the next mission should take place in late September.
During the conversation, G. Landsbergis emphasized the need to continue to suspend Iraqi airlines’ flights to Belarus.
He also stated that Lithuania supports the Iraqi government’s efforts to achieve stability and democracy in the country and to implement social and economic reforms.
This is the third meeting of G.Landsberg and F.Hussein this year. The Minister invited a colleague to visit Lithuania.
This year, almost 4.2 thousand people entered the country across the border with Belarus. illegal migrants, most of them Iraqis.
164 migrants were returned from Lithuania to their countries of origin, some of them left voluntarily with the help of state financial support or were deported.
Vilnius accuses the Minsk regime of organizing migratory flows and calls it hybrid aggression. As a result, a state of emergency has been declared in the country.
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