Prior to becoming a member of the European Union, Latvian officials worked toward selling the nation as a transit hub for Asian countries. President Vaira Vike-Freiberga toured China, and Uzbekistan President Islom Karimov visited Riga. The campaign continued after accession, most notably in Kazakhstan, where Vike-Freiberga and a group of state officials did some networking in October.
The task, in the words of Latvian leaders, was to create a new Silk Road that would give Asian exporters the chance to send their goods 's both raw materials and finished products 's into the global market, and allow tiny Latvia to reap the benefits of EU membership. But one can't say the Latvians aren't trying. While in Astana, Riga Mayor Gundars Bojars went so far as to propose building a separate terminal for Kazakhstan at Riga Free Port.
No doubt this new Silk Road will take years to materialize, if at all. To find out more about the project, The Baltic Times recently sat down with Chinese Ambassador Ji Yanchi.
How would you characterize Latvian-Chinese relations right now?
I can say that in 2004, relations between the two countries reached a peak. Last April President Vaira Vike-Freiberga was in China on a state visit. The two presidents had a very deep discussion on economic cooperation and bilateral relations. The visit was seen as very successful, and seven agreements were signed.
Now personal exchanges between the two countries 's officials, businessmen and people of all walks of life 's are more frequent. The two parliaments have established a stable system of cooperation, and the two ministries of foreign affairs hold regular consultations. Every year the countries' culture ministries will exchange exhibitions, conferences, and performances. And every year the Chinese government offers full scholarships for students to study in China for one year.
Cooperation between local governments has been enhanced. Riga has a twin-city relationship with Suzhou, which is known in China as the Eastern Venice, and every year there are exchanges between the two. In addition, Daugavpils has close relations with Harbin.
I want to mention that after the president's state visit, economic cooperation between the two countries developed rapidly. For example, trade between the two amounted to $130 million in 2003, and we can expect that this year's volume will reach $200 million. That's a 70 percent increase, which is very good news for us.
What types of goods are traded between the two countries?
One of the problems in the two countries' trade relationship is that Latvia exports much less than China does. Latvia mainly exports machines, linen and IT programs. China exports clothes, plastic products and goods of everyday use. At the market I saw that all notebooks are made in China, and the CEO of VP Market told me that all of their Christmas decorations were from China as well.
Latvia's leadership wants China to use the Baltic country's infrastructure for exporting goods to the West as a transit corridor. What are the chances that this will happen?
As ambassador, I am trying my best to study the situation and promote this project. I am conducting an information campaign to make Chinese business entrepreneurs and companies aware of the perspectives of Latvia's ports. I know that many Chinese [businesses] are very interested in Latvia's ports 's they are interested in the infrastructure and want to know the details of how they work. Companies need to calculate all their expenses for using these ports. Right now few Chinese companies are using them, because China already has many transit corridors in other European countries. And for any Chinese company that wants to use the services of another country, it must first take a long hard look.
Now I hope that the Latvian government can show more persuasive reasons for me to prove to Chinese companies that it's worth their while to use Latvian ports. And this includes infrastructure, taxes, service and transport fees.
My personal opinion is that the perspectives for Chinese companies to use Latvian ports for transit is rather bright, but we should do more work and make more effort to reach these goals.
Will Russia pose a problem for Chinese-Latvian transit cooperation, since all deliveries to the Baltics must first cross it?
I don't think they will be a hindrance. There is a need for more negotiations, of course, not only between Latvia and China, but also for other counties in between such as Russia and Kazakhstan.