In a videoconference on 17 March 2020, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkēvičs, and his counterparts from Estonia, Lithuania and Germany discussed latest developments related to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, stressing the need for a closer coordination of a united response by the European Union.
Foreign Minister Rinkēvičs thanked the German side for its support in seeking solutions to the crisis on the Polish-German border. The priority is to clear transit corridors, thereby enabling people to return to their home countries, and a free flow of freight transport. The ministers were unanimous that a common concerted response must be facilitated to prevent shortage of medical goods and to ensure a free flow of goods and a humanitarian transit so that people could return home.
The Foreign Ministers continued the talks by also sharing opinions on the state of affairs in Syria and Turkey; they noted that it was vital to offer humanitarian assistance to refugees and to take forward a dialogue addressing both the problems in Syria itself and the refugee flows they are causing.
The previous “3+1”meeting of Baltic and German Ministers of Foreign Affairs took place in Hamburg on 21 May 2019. The Foreign Ministers’ meetings in such a format are already being held for 24 years, since 1994.