The war in the Middle East could potentially increase the pressure of illegal migration on Latvia; moreover, there are risks of attempts by Pakistani labor migrants located in Belarus to penetrate into Latvia, stated Minister of the Interior Rihards Kozlovskis.
According to the minister, in the event of an escalation of the conflict and the conduct of ground operations, the movement of the civilian population is inevitable, similar to what occurred during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and consequently, the risks of illegal migration may increase even further.
As reported, a year ago, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko hosted Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and offered 150,000 Pakistanis the opportunity to come to Belarus for work.
Kozlovskis noted that there are already tens of thousands of Pakistani labor migrants in Belarus. The minister is concerned that at some point, through the information space, these people may be led to believe that Belarus is not the best country and that they need to leave for other states. This means that the movement of these people will create risks of even greater migratory pressure on the border of Latvia.
Kozlovskis recently met with his counterpart from Pakistan, who expressed interest in addressing the issue of illegal migration. Kozlovskis believes that it is necessary to maintain bilateral contacts with Pakistan.
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