Lithuania’s Ministry of Transport and Communications says by the protocol decision the Government gave its political endorsement of the draft agreement on the development of the Rail Baltica link to be signed by the governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The intergovernmental agreement will be concluded at the meeting of the Baltic Council of Ministers in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, on 31 January this year.
The agreement is aimed at ensuring that works of construction of the European-gauge railway transport infrastructure in the territories of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are completed by 2025, and the project partners are enabled to implement the Rail Baltica project.
‘The agreement will establish the three Baltic States’ obligations to implement the Rail Baltica project in its full scope including the Vilnius link and the modernisation of the line between Kaunas and the Lithuanian-Polish border. Latvia‘s intentions are very important for Lithuania so that our investments in the lines between Kaunas and Panevėžys and further to the Latvian border, and Latvia‘s investments in the links with the Lithuanian border would not end up being pointless‘, says Rokas Masiulis, Minister of Transport and Communications.
According to Rokas Masiulis, implementation of the project would lead to an increase in investments in transport and logistics in the Baltic States. This would broaden opportunities and bring benefits for people and businesses across Lithuania.
The draft agreement on the development of the Rail Baltic/Rail Baltica link has been agreed with competent authorities of Latvia and Estonia. It sets out the project partners’ liabilities, the implementation coordination mechanism, and methods of collaboration with Poland and Finland.
The draft agreement has been published in the Legal Acts Information System managed by the Office of the Seimas (Parliament) of the Republic of Lithuania. Members of the public can post comments and proposals in the system; no feedback from the public has been received.
The document will be submitted to the Seimas for ratification, to be followed by ratification by the Latvian and Estonian Parliaments.