Sinkevičius says secondary migration from Latvia is easing

LRT reported that Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius considers the situation involving secondary migration flows from Latvia to be returning to normal.

“The situation is normalising. That is my view based on what I have seen in recent weeks. Assessing the situation from mid-July until now, we can see considerable progress,” Sinkevičius said at a news conference in Riga on Thursday.

According to data provided by border guards in early August, more than 8,000 migrants had attempted to enter Latvia this year, been detained and returned to Belarus, or been deterred on the Belarusian side. That was several times more than the number of attempts to enter Lithuania from Belarus.

Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas said about two weeks ago that the number of irregular migrants returned from Lithuania to Latvia had recently fallen by half.

Proposal for annual government meetings

Sinkevičius also said he had proposed that Latvian Prime Minister Andrius Kulbergs organise annual meetings between the two countries’ governments.

“I proposed to my colleague, the Latvian prime minister, that alongside the existing formats, we could agree to meet once a year with the entire Cabinet, either in Riga or Vilnius. I believe we have questions and problems to address and need to cooperate in various areas,” Sinkevičius said.

According to the Lithuanian prime minister, Kulbergs expressed support for the idea.

Sinkevičius has been visiting Riga since Wednesday and was scheduled to meet other Latvian politicians on Thursday.