OFF THE WIRE

FARMHANDS: A conference of European agricultural advisory bodies that has convened in the picturesque Latvian town of Sigulda is discussing the formation of an association aimed at simplifying the exchange of information between countries. Latvia's Agriculture Consultation and Education Support Center Director Martins Cimmermanis said on May 20 that the association was needed for the advisory services to be able to better coordinate their work and issues that should be solved through joint effort. The third Central and Eastern European agriculture advisers conference is joined by some 45 participants from 15 countries, including Switzerland, Denmark, Britain and Russia. The conference lasts until May 22. Participants are expected to discuss joint work within the European Union, farmers' training methods, the developing of training programs and other issues. (Baltic News Service)

SAWING THROUGH BORDERS: The Estonian forestry concern Sylvester may instead of expanding to Latvia build a sawmill in Lithuania. "We're considering the prospects in Latvia, Lithuania and nearby regions of Russia," head of Sylvester Group Margus Kohava told the daily Eesti Paevaleht. "It's not true that we're going to build more sawmills in Latvia." Vitalijs Aizbaltis, executive director of Latvia's Daugavpils Regional Council, said on May 16 that Sylvester planned to build a sawmill in the Daugavpils region and another near Ventspils. "That information is totally untrue," Kohava told the paper. The new investment in Lithuania would be smaller than the 280 million kroons ($16 million) invested in the Smiltene facility in Latvia. "The Russian market is attractive," Kohava added. Owing to a shortage of raw material, the concern has no room for development on the Estonian market. Estonia produces roughly 1.4 million cubic meters of timber a year, a large part of this by the companies of the Sylvester Group. Sylvester is the largest forestry enterprise in the country. It netted 76.7 million kroons on sales of 1.5 billion kroons last year. The group comprises nearly 40 companies employing a thousand people. The majority owners of the concern are nine Estonian businessmen. (BNS)

BIG SHRINK: Lithuania's current account deficit narrowed by 13 percent in the first-quarter of 2002 from the equivalent figure last year to 475.3 million litas ($125.6 million), the country's central bank said on May 16. Based on preliminary estimates the deficit narrowed between 4.3 percent to 4.7 percent of gross domestic product from the 5.1 percent of gross domestic product in the first-quarter of 2001. In 2001 Lithuania's current account deficit totaled 2.29 billion litas, or 4.8 percent of GDP. (Agence France-Presse)

DAYTIME SAILING: As of June 1, the Max Mols high-speed ferry will sail between the Latvian and Swedish capitals during the day, covering the distance in some nine hours, while tickets are to cost even cheaper. The ferry has been making the trip by night since being launched in late April, as the operator has not been able to agree on other arrival times with the Swedish authorities. The ferry's operator Rigas Juras Linijas stated that in preparation of a lively tourist season, the ferry was offering services for tourists in both Latvia and Sweden, offering hotel reservations, city guides and special travel packages. The ferry is being rented from Denmark's Mols Linien and able to take 800 passengers. (BNS)

RUSSIAN POWER: Estonia's national electric power company Eesti Energia finds the plans of a consortium led by a St. Petersburg-based bank to build a power-cum-heat production facility in Tallinn surprising, as Eesti Energia itself froze a similar project more than a year ago. The power company's communications manager Erki Peegel said the Estonian capital already has in the Iru power station a facility for the simultaneous production of electrical and thermal energy, which is able to cover practically all of Tallinn's need for heat. "We can't see in the near future very good prospects for a new power plant of the same size," Peegel said. Eesti Energia has had no contact with the consortium, led by the St. Petersburg International Bank. The power company itself has carried out a thorough analysis of building a new power plant but found the project unprofitable. The St. Petersburg International Bank, which opened its representation in Tallinn earlier this year, wishes to build a station there together with partners from the International Consortium for Small Scale Energy. A meeting of the consortium in Moscow on May 15 approved a project to build a station in Tallinn with a capacity of about 200 megawatts, the construction of which would cost $150 million to 170 million, and sent the respective proposal to the Estonian capital's municipality. (BNS)

GOING JEEP: The Silberauto dealership importing Mercedes-Benz cars into the Baltic states will from July 1 represent Chrysler and Jeep vehicles in Lithuania, said marketing manager Ullar Born. Silberauto is also the distributor in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania of the bus manufacturer EvoBus and Mercedes' wide-range vehicle Unimog. The firm won the Mercedes-Benz distributor rights in Lithuania this year, opening its representation in the capital Vilnius in February. In 2000, Silberauto made a profit of 19.7 million kroons ($1.15 million) on sales of 382.9 million kroons. The company belongs to Estonian investors. (BNS)

SPIRIT LAW: Although the Latvian Parliament is later this week set to improve amendments to the alcohol law, returned to the Parliament by the country's president over inconsistencies in the legislation with Latvia's international commitments, the new amendments may still ban spirit imports from Russia for the production of vodka for sale on the local market. Some of the MPs' proposals submitted to soften the norm under the law allowing spirit to be imported only from the European Union, World Trade Organization member countries and the Baltic states, now stipulate that local spirit is to be produced in vodka production for local consumption if it does not contradict Latvia's international agreements ratified by the Parliament. But problems may occur as Latvia's trade agreement with Russia has not been ratified by the Latvian Parliament. (BNS)