About 1,800 Latvian citizens could be served by mobile passport stations that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs are expected to bring to Australia, Canada and the United States this summer.

According to a proposal for extra funding approved June 8 by the Cabinet of Ministers in Rīga, the mobile passport stations will allow Latvian citizens abroad to get new type passports complete with biometric data in time for the Oct. 2 Saeima election.

The Cabinet of Ministers approved supplementary spending in the amount of LVL 27,551 for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and LVL 21,865 for the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs. The funding will allow for two technicians each to travel to the three countries beginning later this month through August.

Latvia began issuing new passports with biometric data in November 2007. Because it is necessary for persons to be physically present at the time of requesting a new passport, problems have arisen for Latvian citizens abroad who no longer have valid passports and are not able to easily obtain new ones. In Australia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposal noted, Latvia has no embassy, while honorary consuls are not authorized to issue passports. In Canada and the United States, the location of embassies (in Ottawa and Washington, D.C., respectively) would require citizens to travel great distances to deal with passport issues.

The problem has been accentuated by the coming parliamentary election, because citizens may not vote without valid passports.

In Australia, a mobile passport station will be brought to Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. About 400 Latvian citizens could be served, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In Canada, a passport station will be brought to Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. An estimated 300 citizens could be served.

And in the United States, a passport station will be brought to Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle. About 1,100 Latvian citizens could be served, according to the ministry.

Costs of the mobile passport project, according to the foreign ministry’s proposal, will be offset by help from Latvian organizations and honorary consuls in the three countries.

A new 1-lat coin featuring a toad has been issued by the Bank of Latvia. The coin, released June 7, will join others that depict aspects of Latvian nature or folk culture.

The toad has an important role in Latvia’s natural environment and also is noted in folk beliefs, according to a Bank of Latvia press release. Perhaps best known is the toad’s role in the folk song “Aiz kalniņa dūmi kūp,”  where it brings water to the skunk that is brewing beer.

“The toad is associated with fertility: in the ancient Latvian folksongs it carries the water for the beer brewing ritual; its presence helps the harvest,” according to the press release. “Like the grass snake, the toad was considered to bring blessing to cattle, therefore he who killed a toad risked to have cows go dry and the skin on his hands turn toadlike. By contrast, to circle around a toad three times guarantees good fortune. We are entrusting the toad with just this mission: to bring luck and good fortune to each household where money is spent prudently.”

Latvia is home to several species of toad, including the common toad, green toad, running toad, fire-bellied toad and European common spadefoot. Among those, the fire-bellied toad, European common spadefoot and running toad are protected species.

Toads helps farmers by eating bugs and snails that might affect the harvest, according to Mihails Pupiņš, director of the Latgale Zoo and senior researcher at the Ecology Institute of the University of Daugavpils.

The coin features a toad on its reverse and, like others in the series, the Latvian coat of arms on its front side. Other coins in the series feature a stork, an ant, a boletus mushroom, Sprīdītis, St Peter’s rooster, a pretzel, a Midsummer wreath, a pine cone, an owl brooch, a snowman, a water-lily, a chimney sweep, the traditional Namejs ring and a Christmas tree.

The coin is made of a copper-nickel alloy and was minted by Germany’s Staatliche Münze Berlin. It was created by graphic designer Edgars Folks and Jānis Strupulis, who made the mold.

The circulation of the toad coin is 1 million.

A plan to use mobile passport stations to service Latvian citizens in Australia, Canada and the United States this summer needs more than LVL 49,000 in supplementary funding, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have told a parliamentary commission in Rīga.

The officials on June 3 told the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission that a request for additional funding will be forwarded to the Council of Ministers, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Under the plan, one official each from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (Pilsonības un migrācijas lietu pārvalde, or PMLP) will travel to Australia, Canada and the United States. Using mobile passport stations, they will collect biometric data from citizens needing new or renewed Latvian passports.

The plan is part of an effort, encouraged by leading diaspora organizations, to increase the number of citizens abroad who may vote in the Oct. 2 parliamentary election.

But the plan cannot be realized given the current resources of the foreign affairs and interior ministries, officials told the Saeima commission. (The PMLP is part of the Ministry of the Interior.) The ministries will be asking the government for LVL 49,416 in additional funding.

As reported earlier, specialists from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the PMLP are expected to bring the mobile passport stations to Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York and Cleveland in the U.S. and Toronto, Hamilton, Montréal, Vancouver and Edmonton in Canada. The specialists are planning to visit the U.S. cities in late June and July, and the Canadian cities in July.

In Australia, according to Latvia’s honorary consuls there, the mobile stations will be brought in August to Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Reduced funding for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—part of the government’s overall budget-slashing brought on by the global financial meltdown—also has affected other services, officials told the Saeima commission. At the same time, continued emigration from Latvia has resulted in increased demand for those services. From 2008 to 2009, officials told the commission, demand for consular services from citizens abroad increased 35 percent. Demand for tourist visas to Latvia also has increased. However, last year the number of consular officials abroad decreased 48 percent.

In some cases, the ability of Latvian consular staff to quickly render services has been greatly reduced. In London, the foreign affairs officials told the Saeima commission, those seeking passports through the Latvian Embassy must reserve a time two months in advance. In Moscow, people have been reported standing in line for two days to get a visa for travel to Latvia.