Baltic States – CIS, Good for Business, Latvia, Railways, Russia, Transport

Transport Minister Uldis Augulis (Union of Greens and Farmers) said that the work on this project, in which both sides are interested, so far has been only done at the technical level. According to him, a joint European Union and Russian project should be created and European funds could also be found for it, writes LETA.

Augulis did not comment on project's expenditures.

According to Economy Minister Artis Kampars (Unity), the project is about the construction of parallel rails. The expenditures will be substantial with the Russian side projecting that they could total USD eight billion (LVL 4.2 billion). The Russian side also mentions European funds as a possible source of funding.

"If such a sum of money would be available, then the connection between Russian capital and European capital would be a very good project," said Kampars.

The Russian side has promised to talk with the leading officials of the European Commission and the leaders of the European countries.

Commenting on Latvia's support, Kampars pointed out that if we can finance this project from sources which are not from the Latvian budget, then it is a good project. However, in general, eight billion is our five-year cohesion money and we cannot invest it in a single project, said Kampars.