The Baltic States by the end of 2010 are going to sign the intergovernmental trilateral agreement in the sphere of railroad transport.

The need of elaborating such document has been discussed for the first time during the annual meeting of the Transport Ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in Palanga (Lithuania) at the end of 2009.

Lengthy consultations by the parties were held since then. Press service of the Communication Ministry of Latvia was the first to announce about the possibility of approving such document already at the beginning of the year of 2010.

“Currently cooperation between the Baltic States in the sphere of railroad transport is regulated by various bilateral agreements, which neither meet the requirements and norms of the Baltic States, nor the EU, - stated the information of the authority. – The new agreement aims to improve cooperation between the states in the sphere of economics, administration and international relations, as well as facilitate the development of railroad communication between the Baltic States, leading to a closer cooperation thereof.

Specialists from Communications Ministries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as well as from the Latvian Railroad company (Latvijas dzelzcels, LDz) and the State Railroad Inspectorate of Latvia participated in the drafting process of the project. At present the three states are in the process of approving the document. For the enforcement of the document approval on the level of national Seimas (Parliament) is required.

The matter is related to the construction of one thousand km of European track type railroad Rail Baltica, for connecting Helsinki and Warsaw, and continuing via Kaunas, Riga and Tallinn. The estimated costs of the construction reach EUR 3 billion, including 70% covered by the EU funds.

According to the opinion of the leading expert of the Centre of Current Politics Dmitrij Abzalov, the initiator of the trilateral agreement between the Baltic States was actually the EU.

“Under the existing general normative basis covering the three states, it will more convenient for the EU to monitor the financial flows of the Rail Baltica project, and influence more actively the process of work performed, accordingly”, - he considers.

Material has been prepared by the Centre of Geopolitical Studies with reference to the article from « Гудок.ру» of 25 10 2010

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