On Thursday, at an extraordinary government meeting held in the format of a written survey, a decision was made to allocate €752,000 for the repatriation and evacuation of Latvian citizens from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Considering the security situation in the Middle East region, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, together with the Ministry of Transport, has been tasked with ensuring repatriation flights for Latvian citizens organized by Air Baltic Corporation from the respective region.
At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must ensure the evacuation of Latvian citizens from the UAE by ground transport to neighboring countries if necessary.
The government has agreed that during the implementation of repatriation and evacuation measures, priority will be given to families with children, minors, people with health problems and limited mobility, pregnant women, elderly people, people with disabilities, unaccompanied children, and other socially vulnerable individuals.
The government also decided that the surcharge for a passenger ticket on a repatriation flight organized by Air Baltic Corporation will be €350.
The Ministry of Transport, as the holder of shares in Air Baltic Corporation, has been tasked with ensuring that the price of the repatriation flight service corresponds to actual costs and does not exceed the offer for other recipients of similar services.
The total expenses of €752,000 will be covered from the state budget program "Contingency Funds."
LETA agency previously reported that as of March 4, 624 Latvian citizens had registered in the consular register of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requesting assistance to leave the UAE.
On February 28, Israel and the USA began airstrikes on Iran. Several affected countries completely closed their airspace in the early days of the conflict, and on March 4 began to partially, but not fully, reopen it.
