In Brief - 2002-10-17

Latvian GDP behind Baltic EU candidates

Eurostat reported that according to last year's gross domestic product per capita, Latvia's economy is only 33 percent of the EU average, while Lithuania's was 38 percent and Estonia's 42 percent. Although Latvia's GDP grew by 7.7 percent last year, the GDP per capita grew only 2 percent compared with the EU average.

Lower than Latvia on the list of EU candidate countries were Bulgaria and Rumania. Cyprus posted the highest GDP per capita last year among candidate countries at 80 percent the EU average, while the Czech Republic was at 57 percent.

Among candidate countries only Estonia and Malta have a smaller economy than Latvia. (Baltic News Service)

Baltic railways vow to cooperate

The national railways of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania met in Riga last week and proposed following a common stance in solving issues before and after EU accession. The three Baltic railway representatives agreed that in order to boost cargo amounts and withstand external competition they must consolidate their demand and offer joint solutions.

One of the proposed solutions is Baltic Product, according to which the Latvian railway company will coordinate cargo flow from Baltic ports, mainly container cargo, to Russia and beyond. As part of this project, Latvia would gather container shipments coming from ports in all three Baltic states and distribute them for further shipment. (BNS)

Dutch may control Lithuania's Rimi stores

The Dutch retail group Ahold, an active investor in the Baltic region, may take full control of the Rimi chain in Lithuania. Such a scenario is possible under an agreement among the shareholders of ICA Ahold Holding: Dutch Ahold, Sweden's ICA Forbundet, and Norway's Canica.

Under the agreement, all shareholders of ICA Ahold, which controls Rimi, have the right to sell their shares, though not until April 2004. Last July, ICA Ahold acquired a 100 percent share in Ekovalda, the Lithuanian retailer that owns the Rimi chain.

ICA Baltic operates approximately 70 shopping centers across the Baltic countries, including 35 in Lithuania. Its annual sales in the Baltics reached 275 million euros last year. (BNS)

Lithuania pinpoints strategic enterprises

Last week the Lithuanian Parliament passed a law on enterprises and facilities of strategic importance to national security. The law lists 10 such enterprises that cannot be sold into private hands: Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, Lietuvos Pastas, Ammunition Production Plant, the airports in Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga, the Klaipeda State Seaport Authority, Lithuanian Petroleum Product Agency, the flight control service Oro Navigacija, and Dzukijos Silas, the company that protects state reserves.

The law also lists eight companies in which the state must retain a majority interest, though domestic and foreign companies complying with Lithuania's trans-Atlantic integration criteria are allowed to participate in their management: Lithuanian Railways, the Lithuanian Radio and Television Center, the grain reservoir Jonavos Grudai, Lithuanian Energy, Siauliai Airport, the oil product terminal Klaipedos Nafta, as well as supply and waste disposal systems.

Other companies are defined as strategically vital - Mazeikiu Nafta, Lietuvos Dujos, the electricity distribution network, Lithuanian Power Plant, Lithuanian Telecom - but no ownership restrictions are imposed. (BNS)

Microsoft software glitch in Estonia

The nearly 20,000 users of Microsoft Office with the menu and help files in Estonian cannot automatically update the program and some are thus forced to use outdated software.

Microsoft started to sell its Office XP containing an Estonian version of the Microsoft Word word processing program and the Outlook mailing program, but no updating packages can be downloaded for it from the Internet to correct its inherent functional and security faults.

"It is a fault," said Torben Andersen, head of Microsoft's Baltic region. He could not say when the fault could be corrected. (BNS)

Passenger service up at seaport, down at airport

The Port of Riga provided services to 113,767 passengers in the first nine months of 2002, more than doubling the figure for the same period last year. During the nine months 56,536 passengers arrived at the port and 57,231 passengers departed. During the whole of last year Riga Port served 50,166 passengers.

Riga Airport, on the other hand, saw a 1.8 percent decline year-on-year over the first nine months. The airport served 477,342 passengers from January to September, down 8,700 people from the same period last year. The suspension of flights by Austrian Airlines, as well as the events of Sept. 11, 2001, were the chief factors for the decline. (BNS)