This week, from 12 to 16 September, European Coordinator of the North-Sea Baltic TEN-T Corridor Mme Catherine Trautmann visited the Baltic States and Finland with a purpose to meet Rail Baltica global project partners and to discuss project progress, expressing strong commitment and reaffirming the significant role of Rail Baltica in EU, in the context of the current geopolitical situation.
| During her visit Mme Trautmann emphasized that she has constantly supported Rail Baltica and the realization of this high-speed railway infrastructure is now of an utmost importance for the geostrategic reasons.
“Rail Baltica is not just a top six priority of the biggest projects in Europe and EU. It is an obligation to build it and I hope that we will transform in the next months and years the capacity to construct. Especially since we now also have the extension of the corridor with the new line which concerns us to Kyiv and to Mariupol. It must be understood that Rail Baltica is a common European project and not just a project for the region. That’s what I expressed during the visit, and I was so pleased in the Baltic tour when I saw the Estonian colleagues, the Latvian colleagues, and the Lithuanian colleagues to see that we share the same vision,” said European Coordinator of the North-Sea Baltic TEN-T Corridor Mme Catherine Trautmann. |
For the background:
More photos on the Rail Baltica Global Project official Flicr account: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA711Y
As part of the visit, dedicated meetings in Estonia were organized with the Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure in Estonia Riina Sikkut, management team of Rail Baltic Estonia, the project’s national implementing body, partners from Port of Tallinn, Operail, Estonian Railways Ltd., European Commission representation in Estonia as well as the representatives from HHLA Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG in Estonia, followed by several visits to Muuga Harbour and Assaku.
More photos on the Rail Baltica Global Project official Flicr account: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA7esa
In Latvia her visit continued with discussing the strategic issues of the Rail Baltica global project with the Prime Minister of Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš, members of the national parliament, Saeima, Minister of Transport Tālis Linkaits, representatives from the Ministry of Finance and management board members of VAS “Latvijas dzelzceļš”. Mme Trautmann also visited Rail Baltica joint venture RB Rail AS to meet the company’s Supervisory Board, Management Board, and employees, and concluded her stay in Riga with the site visit to Riga Central Station’s construction site and discussion with the project’s national implementing body “Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas”.
More photos on the Rail Baltica Global Project official Flicr account: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA77Wg
The last part of her tour was in in Lithuania, where sessions were held with RB Rail AS Lithuanian branch and LTG Infra representatives. Mme Trautmann had a meeting with the advisers to the President for the transport issues and members of LTG Group as well as with the Ministry of the Finance in Lithuania. The visit was completed with a bilateral meeting with the RB Rail AS Supervisory Board’s Chairman Romas Švedas.
More photos on the Rail Baltica Global Project official Flicr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/railbalticaglobalproject/