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Functions of Ventspils Freeport Authority to be handed over to state company - Linkaits

BC, Riga, 13.12.2019.Print version
The Cabinet of Ministers on December 17 will decide on handing over the functions of the Ventspils Freeport Authority to the state company, Transport Minister Talis Linkaits (New Conservative Party) told the press on Friday, citing LETA.

On Friday, the first meeting of the workgroup on how to ensure uninterrupted operations of Ventspils Freeport was held.


The workgrpup discussed the current situation and concluded that the legislative amendments to the Law on Ports adopted by the Saeima on December 12 on the state taking over the Riga and Ventspils port are not sufficient.


The workgroup decided to submit a proposal to the Cabinet of Ministers on establishment of a new state-owned company that will take over the functions of the Ventspils Freeport Authority.


"We are in a situation when there are 30 days to ensure further successful operations in the territory of Ventpils Freeport, and we will do everything possible so that there is a new legal entities that can conclude all the necessary business deals with companies," said the minister.


Linkaits underscored that the state is doing everything possible to ensure that Ventspils Freeport is taken off the list of the US sanctions. "We are doing everything possible so that none of the persons listed in the sanctions does not have any influence on processes at the Ventspils port," he said.


As reported, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) on December 9 imposed sanctions on a number of physical and legal persons in Europe, Asia and Latin America, including on Latvia's Ventspils mayor Aivars Lembergs, based on the so-called Magnitsky act.


OFAC has listed four organizations that belong to or are controlled by Lembergs - Vetspils Freeport Administration, Ventspils Development Agency, Business Development Agency, and the Latvian Transport Business Association.






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