Latvia, Port, Transport

After the meeting of the ruling coalition parties Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis (Greens/Farmers) said that the coalition partners believed that the central government's representatives in the board of the Riga port should have the same position in the matter. Holding a tender is the way to find the best candidate to fill the vacancy, he said.

Edvards Smiltens, the deputy chairman of the ruling Unity party, said that the transport minister had participated in the meeting of the ruling coalition parties and that the coalition partners had urged Augulis to seize the opportunity and to hold an open international tender to find a new CEO for the Riga port. They had also received assurances from the transport minister that, most probably, this method will be used to find a new CEO. After all, the transport minister is in a position to influence the process of searching for a new head of the Riga port, Smiltens added.

As reported, long-time CEO of the Freeport of Riga, Leonids Loginovs, on January 25 tendered his letter of resignation effective as of March 10. The Freeport of Riga Authority has been instructed to come up with the proposals on how the port's next CEO will be selected and to submit those proposals to the board by February 22.

Loginovs has been the CEO of the Freeport of Riga since 1998. There have been several attempts to dismiss him from his post over the years after various scandals, all of them unsuccessful.

The Riga port is the largest in Latvia in terms of cargo turnover.