Minister of Foreign Affairs and his Lithuanian Counterpart Discuss Bilateral Relations, File of Iraqi migration and Procedures of voluntary return

On 16/1/2022, the Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein received Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. During the meeting, they discussed the bilateral relations, the file of migration and the necessary procedures for the return of Iraqi migrants.

Mr Fuad Hussein said ” we talked about bilateral relations, and we touched on the issue of Iraqi migration this year and last year to Belarus, Lithuania and Poland” adding that this issue received a large media echo and humanitarian dimensions, and in cooperation with several countries in the European Union, and Lithuania, in this regard, we could work to bring back (4000) Iraqis who were trapped on the Belarusian-Lithuanian, Belarusian-Polish and Latvia borders by 10 Flights departed from Baghdad.

 Minister Fuad Hussein affirmed “there are some Iraqis who are still in Lithuania and we are awaiting their decision to voluntarily return them to Baghdad, pointing out that we discussed the bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to develop them”.

Mr Fuad Hussein thanked Mr Gabrielius Landsbergis for the great role through the European Union to help Iraq in various fields, as there was a significant effort related to de-listing the name of Iraq from the list of high-risk countries regarding terrorist financing and money laundering, pointing out that de-listing the name of Iraq was a victory for Iraqi diplomacy in various countries and the European Union, especially in Brussels.

On his part, the Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis pointed out that the Iraqi government was the first to stop flights to Belarus, adding that some Iraqis had been given false promises to emigrate to Europe, stating that they believe that they might succeed upon reaching the Lithuanian border, pointing out that there is some collaboration between Iraq and Lithuania to stop the immigration, stating that the European Union considers Iraq an excellent model for dealing with it with confidence, confirming that the Europeans consider the Iraqi government’s policy as a model for cooperation in confronting illegal immigration and smuggling networks, and providing everything necessary for a voluntary return, which Syria and other countries in the region emulated, pointing out that he will discuss in Baghdad a lot of issues and cooperation between the two countries in the future.