EU – Baltic States, Forum, Lithuania, Railways, Transport

Photo: transp.lt

Lithuania due to convenient geographical position with the easy access to the New Silk Road countries and 750 million consumer markets, as well as well-developed transport and logistics infrastructure can become a connection to Europe, the Ministry of Transport and Communications said.

"Train Saule is a strategic project of cooperation between Lithuania and Kazakhstan which has a real possibility to become an impressive realization of the Great Silk Road ambition. We seek to develop the project further and expand the transit carriage of cargo between Eastern and Western Europe as well as Scandinavian countries through Lithuanian territory," said Minister Linkevicius. "Noteworthy, this idea is not only written down, but, currently, is actively making its way to life," added the minister.

Kazakhstan seeks to realize logistics projects allowing increasing the capacity of intermodal terminals in China and the EU countries. In addition, it sets up the freight distribution centre in East-West corridor. The country envisages implementing the project Khorgos-Eastern Gate that will develop Aktau seaport and Special Economic Zone. Analogously, Lithuania develops transport hub project Klaipeda-Western Gate.

It is expected that the Memorandum of Understanding on establishing joint ventures in Klaipeda and Khorgos, which was signed between Lithuania and Kazakhstan in December 2014, will help to implement the above mentioned transport and infrastructure projects and boost the development of container train Saule.

On the 5-6th of June, an international conference New Silk Road – a Reliable Link between Europe and Asia organized by the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Lithuania, JSC Lithuanian Railways and Klaipeda State Seaport Authority will take place in Klaipeda, Lithuania. At the conference, further cooperation directions will be discussed with the delegation from the Republic of Kazakhstan.