Baltic, Construction, EU – Baltic States, Investments, Latvia, Lithuania, Railways, Transport

Details in the agreement are still being harmonized, and after that is done, the agreement will have to be signed by a total of nine Baltic institutions, explained Rassa.

RB Rail CEO Baiba Rubesa was saying that all the remaining i's would be dotted and t's crossed that same day, so the agreement could be signed on schedule - by September 30.

As reported, representatives of the three Baltic countries at the meeting of the RB Rail council agreed on September 7 on the further procurement model and responsibilities in implementation the Rail Baltica project. They decided to divide all procurements in three groups - procurements organized by the joint venture only, consolidated procurements implemented by the joint venture, and procurements implemented by national companies under supervision of the joint venture.

The Latvian Transport Ministry reported that the meeting was a turning point in cooperation among the Baltic countries to continue work on the project. The representatives discussed centralized RB Rail procurements and national procurements supervised by RB Rail.

LETA also reported, Michael Cramer, chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism, warned earlier that the Baltic countries risked losing EU funding for Rail Baltica if they proved unable to reach common ground on the project's implementation.

The Baltic countries had reportedly failed to agree on the distribution of Rail Baltica money. Lithuania feared that, with all orders conducted by the Latvia-registered company RB Rail, VAT would remain in Latvia. Lithuania has always wanted the VAT for the work done in Lithuania to stay in the country's territory. In July, ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia agreed on VAT distribution, however, the countries were still to reach agreement on the final financing scheme.