Baltic States – CIS, China, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Logistics, Transport

"Northern Europe and the Baltics are a market with a population of 26 million, so if Chinese goods were distributed in this market from warehouses in Latvia, it would be a significant contribution to the [Latvian] economy," the ministry official said.

Today, Riga is hosting the first meeting of transport ministers of 16 Central and Eastern European countries and China (16+1), which among other things is expected to focus on developing container train traffic between China and Europe, with entrepreneurs from western China and transit countries Kazakhstan and Russia showing interest in these routes.

"Cargos from China are shipped by sea, which is less costly, but it takes 40-45 days for them to reach Europe. Shipping the cargos by rail takes 15 days. Imagine how many computers can be loaded in one container and how much money remains frozen while this container reaches Europe by sea. By using container trains and logistics centers in Latvia, the cargo would have been sold and reached the consumers in a much shorter period of time," said Maldups.

The ministry official also indicated that negotiations with the Chinese are time consuming and require subtle diplomacy, but that talks are already under way on a number of projects involving new logistics centers and port terminals.

The Latvian capital Riga is hosting the first 16+1 meeting of transport ministers today. The aim of the meeting is to promote cooperation between the countries in transport and logistics.

Latvia has been given the role of logistics coordinator in the 16+1 cooperation format.

The 16+1 format is an initiative by the People’s Republic of China aimed at intensifying and expanding cooperation with 11 EU Member States and 5 Balkans countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) in the fields of investments, transport, finance, science, education, and culture.