An extraordinary meeting of the Latvian government on the provision of humanitarian aid was convened on Friday, July 23 Lithuania refugee crisis, the agenda of the government meeting shows.
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The meeting will take place in the form of a questionnaire from 9 am to 1 pm
The Ministry of the Interior (MoI) informed that on July 15 this year State Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) as the Latvian National Contact Point for Civil Protection received an e-mail from European the Emergency Response Coordination Center on the emergency situation in Lithuania in relation to the flow of illegal migrants.
The ministry stressed that the number of illegal migrants crossing the Belarusian-Lithuanian border has increased dramatically. On July 20 this year, their number has reached 2,158, which is 26 times more than in 2020.
In order to provide humanitarian aid to Lithuania, the ministers will decide on Friday to send three tents, three electricity generators, five lighting kits, five metal coils with cable lighting kits and 3,000 blankets from Latvia’s state material reserves as humanitarian aid.
It is expected that the SFRS will organize the delivery of the humanitarian aid consignment to Lithuania. Transportation costs could be around € 500 and business trips for employees around € 150.
The Ministry of the Interior has also calculated that updating the resources of the state material reserves may require about 123,900 euros.
It has already been reported that European countries have responded to Lithuania’s request last week to help resolve the crisis of illegal migrants at the Belarusian border, where more than 2,300 foreigners, mainly Middle Eastern nationals, have been detained since the beginning of the year.
“In the last few days we have been receiving help from other countries. [..] All of these things are needed so that we can accommodate migrants while their asylum applications are being processed. I would like to thank all the countries that show solidarity with Lithuania in this difficult situation, “said Lithuanian Minister of the Interior Agne Bilotaite.
Within the framework of the European Union (EU) Civil Protection Mechanism, tents, beds, blankets and electricity generators worth 162,000 euros have been sent to Lithuania with the help of the Polish Strategic Reserve Agency, and soon Polish Ministry of Defense shipment.
Poland has also sent 30 border guards and patrol cars to Lithuania under the EU border agency Frontex program.
Estonia has sent ten large tents to Lithuania, as well as beds, heaters, tables, chairs and other furniture worth more than 200,000 euros, allocated from Ministry of Foreign Affairs humanitarian aid programs.
On Thursday, Lithuania also received a consignment of humanitarian aid for migrants from Croatia – ten winter tents, 100 beds and 200 mattresses, sleeping bags, pillows and blankets.
At the end of last year, Lithuania helped the earthquake-stricken Croatia by sending it 300 sleeping bags from the state reserve, and the government also provided Croatia with 100,000 euros in financial assistance.
All members of the bloc have joined the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, as well as Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey. Through this mechanism, a country in difficulty can request assistance, while the other countries are responsible for what support they can provide, and then the requesting country is responsible for which offers of assistance will be used.
Lithuania, which has declared a state of emergency to deal with the crisis of illegal migrants, has accepted the offers of Croatia, Estonia, Poland, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden under this mechanism.
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