On 24 May 2018, the foreign services of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia met for consular consultations in Riga to discuss cooperation on consular issues, Latvia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
"The consular officers agreed on the revision of the 1999 Agreement between the Governments of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on consular cooperation and assistance to adapt the document to the current needs of travellers and the diaspora in line with the changing global security situation and increasing mobility of population," a release said.
The consultations devoted particular attention to the implementation of the EU's Consular Directive with a focus on providing consular assistance to the citizens of European Union Member States in third countries. The Directive has been introduced in Latvia with the adoption of the Consular Assistance and Consular Services Law, which came into force on 16 May 2018.
The meeting also addressed the issues of a more effective consular assistance to persons who have become victims of human trafficking, and the outsourcing of various consular services, personal data protection in consular work and other practical matters in the provision of consular assistance.
The previous Baltic States’ consular consultations took place in Lithuania in 2017.
