EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Medicine

In his words, the agreement will be signed very soon, but in the meantime each side still has some jobs to complete. In Latvia, the accord has to be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, which will authorize the Health Ministry to ink the document.

Sneiders said that the signing of the cooperation agreement might take place sometime in September or October.

As reported, Latvia and Lithuania have been holding talks on the provision of ambulance services in border areas.

Such an agreement would mean that Latvian ambulances could provide services in the Lithuanian territory near the Lithuanian-Latvian border and vice versa.

Alina Zilinaite, spokeswoman for the Lithuanian minister of health, told BNS Lithuania such an agreement "would improve accessibility of medical assistance for residents of the border region (up to 20 km from the border) but that would happen in exceptional cases when medics from the other country could reach the patient faster."

The Lithuanian Ministry of Health has submitted related projects to other institutions for further coordination to prepare for the signing of such an agreement. According to Zilinaite, it could be signed in October and would come into force after ratification by the Lithuanian parliament.

It will be the first Lithuania's agreement with a neighboring country to provide ambulance services.