Latvian Minister of Transport Tālis Linkaits, Estonian Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Kaupo Läänerand and Polish Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Grzegorz Witkowski took part in the international ministerial discussion ‘Rebuilding Logistics Chains in Times of Uncertainty’. Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Mustafa Nayyem also joined the discussion remotely.
“The transport and logistics sector of Lithuania, and the countries of the whole region alike, is currently going through an unprecedented transformation, which includes the diversification of markets, customers and activities, and expansion into new markets, especially in Western Europe. Our cooperation, closer mutual integration and leadership in implementing transport innovations are as important as ever in today’s geopolitical context”, said Mr Skuodis, Minister of Transport and Communications of Lithuania, at the international ministerial discussion.
The participants of the discussion noted that the progress of the implementation of the Rail Baltica project is a task of strategic importance for the whole of Europe. According to the ministers of Lithuania and Latvia, the section of Rail Baltica from Kaunas to Riga is currently the most mature in the entire project. The work in this section has already entered the construction phase; the parties will continue to make every effort to ensure timely and high-quality implementation of the project. According to M. Skuodis, to improve transport and logistics connections throughout Central and Eastern Europe, the connection of the high-speed European railway with Klaipėda is already being considered.
When discussing the prospects of railway development in the region, it was emphasised that the issue of Ukrainian grain export particularly highlighted the need to have a unified railway standard in Central Eastern Europe. The Minister of Transport of Latvia T. Linkaits pointed out that the countries are intensively looking for possible solutions for the transportation of Ukrainian grain – joint efforts are being made to find new ways to connect Ukraine and the seaports of the Baltic countries both by road and standard European gauge railway.
According to the Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure of Estonia K. Läänerand, digitisation is a common path for the Baltic region to promote competitiveness. Minister Skuodis also emphasised that digitisation of the transport sector, innovations and development of 5G connection promise unique opportunities for Lithuania and the entire Europe.
“The countries of the Baltic Sea region aim to be the first in Europe to completely abandon paper documents in any logistic operations. Together with colleagues from Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Finland, we continue cooperation for the purposes of digitisation of transport and aim to be leaders in this field on a European scale. The rest of Europe will implement this change a year later – only in 2025,” said M. Skuodis.
Lithuania is one of the world leaders in terms of fibre optic network and Internet speed, where 80 per cent of the country’s population are already able to use 5G connection. It is expected that by 2025, the new generation 5G connection will be available in international land transport corridors, national highways, airport and seaports. It is hoped that by 2025, this connection would cover at least 95 per cent of the country’s territory. In addition, the Baltic countries are the first in the region to develop an international 5G corridor that will cover all three countries.
The International Transport Innovation Forum is held on 20-21 October in Vilnius.
