China, EU – Baltic States, Forum, Latvia, Port, Railways, Transport

Photo: ldz.lv

Latvijas Dzelzcels and DHL Global Forwarding organized an international conference yesterday in Riga to discuss cooperation opportunities and look for solutions for the China-North Europe transit connections.

Huang said that China’s economy is seeing significant challenges caused by the earlier steep economic growth. Dependence on fossil fuels, uneven regional growth, increase of the gross domestic product based on investments in infrastructure that promotes interest in economic ties and markets outside China.

He said that Latvia might ensure connections with Europe and become a significant transport hub.

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics (Unity) at the conference underscored Latvia’s geographic location that eases cooperation with partners in the Baltic Sea region, Eastern Europe and Asia, including China.

He reminded that Latvia during its EU presidency achieved that the new Central Asian strategy is approved, which focuses also on cooperation in transport.

Transport Minister Uldis Augulis (Greens/Farmers) noted that already now Latvia has close ties to China and the Scandinavian countries. In cooperation with Scandinavia, the minister noted the regular sea routes, ensuring that cargos can be shipped from Latvian ports to any port in Scandinavia within 48 hours.

"Our next task is to ensure similar cargo flow in both directions. It is not a secret that there are still twice as much cargo coming from China than going from Europe to China, and this will be our challenge, making the route more competitive," said Augulis.