Latvia to receive 500 Ukrainian refugees from Moldova

Chisinau, 7 April /MOLDPRES/- Latvia will receive 500 Ukrainian refugees out of 95,000 now in Moldova, and the first 30 will fly to Riga, today by presidential plane. Latvian President Egils Levits made the statement at a joint press conference with the head of state, Maia Sandu.

The president thanked the Latvian state for support in recent years and called for help in diversifying the markets for economic agents in our country.

"We appreciate that Moldova remains a priority country in Latvia's Development Cooperation Policy, which funds dozens of projects in many areas, including economic development, education - young people in Moldova benefit from scholarships and research in Latvia , or reintegration policies. Right now we have 10 border guards under training in Latvia. 2 Latvian officers are deployed to the Frontex Mission in Moldova. We appreciate the good cooperation that exists at the level of the border police in both states and the help provided in strengthening the border management capacities. We appreciate the good cooperation at the level of local public administrations. We have already signed 27 collaboration agreements between local public administrations in the Republic of Moldova and localities in Latvia. We are interested in cooperating in strategic communication and information security, strengthening the field of internal affairs, using the experience of Latvia. We are also very interested in continuing to work on the fight against corruption, especially in the rogatory commissions to identify and recover stolen goods and to punish those who robbed the state and the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, "said Sandu.

She added that Latvia is a strong supporter of Moldova's European aspirations. "A few weeks ago, the Republic of Moldova applied to join the European Union and we count on the support of you and the Government of Riga to obtain the status of candidate country. We have great potential for growth in economic relations, but also in strengthening social and cultural contacts between our countries. But for this we need, first of all, peace. The Republic of Moldova strongly condemned the military aggression, I called for the restoration of peace from the first day of the conflict. And Moldovans showed solidarity with Ukrainian refugees and received them in their homes. Almost 95,000 refugees from the neighboring country remain in Moldova, half of them children. That's a big number for us, a country with a population of about 2.6 million people. That is why we have asked for the help of external partners to relocate some of the refugees from the territory of their countries. I appreciate that Latvia has agreed to receive 500 Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Moldova. The first group, consisting of 30 people, will leave for Latvia today with the presidential plane. We also thank you for the humanitarian aid transported to Chisinau today ", the president said.

Egils Levits said that the country supports the European integration of Chisinau, as well as the development and reform projects of the Republic of Moldova. "We congratulate Moldova on immediate response to hosting 95,000 Ukrainian refugees. As far as we know, most refugees are hosted by friends. We agreed to resettle 500 refugees from Moldova. Bilateral funding has been provided to support refugees. Also in the fight against Covid-19 we donated several vaccines and 80 thousand vaccines will arrive in Chisinau in June. We fully support the decision to apply to join the EU, and we call on other Member States to support the decision to join as soon as possible, "the Latvian head of state concluded.