Solutions needed to ensure Rail Baltica's connectivity with the Port of Riga - transport minister

RIGA - Solutions must be found to ensure Rail Baltica's connectivity with the Port of Riga and for the railway project's active use for military mobility, Transport Minister Kaspars Briskens (Progressives) believes. 

As LETA was told at the Transport Ministry, during a working visit to Brussels on Monday Briskens had several meetings on the transport sector's priorities and cooperation matters, including the implementation of the Rail Baltica railway project. 

"There is still strong support for the Rail Baltica project in the European Union (EU), but Latvia needs to do its homework - improve the project's management and look for more effective solutions to integrate Riga into the project," said Briskens. 

The transport minister's meetings in Brussels focused on the prospects of the Baltic Corridor and the Ukrainian grain transport opportunities, as well as rail transport innovations, including ways to promote more active involvement of Latvian railway companies in EU-wide research initiatives.

Briskens also outlined his priorities - the Green Deal, strengthening railway as the backbone of public transport, ensuring transport safety and accessibility for all groups of the population, strengthening the sector's international competitiveness and introducing good governance - which were welcomed by the European Commission as being in line with the EU's Transport Policy priorities and common policy objectives. Also, ways to improve the implementation capacity of EU-funded projects were discussed with representatives of the European Commission.