On 11 June, His Majesty King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands visited the Freeport of Riga Authority to meet the participants of the Netherlands-Latvia Business Seminar “Get Connected”, says FRA.
During this visit, the Freeport of Riga Authority and the Port of Rotterdam Authority signed a cooperation agreement on the involvement of experts in the development of the Port of Riga Action Strategy. “We are highly honoured to welcome His Majesty King of the Netherlands in the Port of Riga. Ports and traders are those who have historically united Latvia and the Netherlands since the times of the Hanseatic League. I am happy that by signing this agreement we are strengthening this cooperation today and will continue to do so in the future”, Ansis Zeltiņš, CEO of the Freeport of Riga Authority, highlighted.
The agreement provides for involving internationally recognised experts of the Port of Rotterdam in the development of the new Freeport of Riga Development Programme 2019–2028. “The ports of Riga and Rotterdam have a lot of in common in terms of cargo trends; the administration models of the two ports have been similar throughout history as well. Moreover, the Port of Rotterdam has accumulated considerable experience in working with various port development projects around the world. Therefore, we chose to attract precisely the competence and expertise of the Rotterdam experts for developing the new Port of Riga development plan”, the CEO of the Freeport of Riga noted.
In turn, Victor Schoenmakers, Director of Corporate Strategy of the Port of Rotterdam, highlighted: “We have developed new innovative solutions in the field of port IT and can offer them to the Port of Riga. Of course, the Port of Riga will be unable to apply the entire electronic system of the Port of Rotterdam, yet we will offer to adapt our solutions for the needs of the Port of Riga. We are also ready to cooperate in other areas; however, the use of new innovative IT solutions in ports is the future of port development and a crucial precondition for maintaining their competitiveness.”
“In the new development programme, we will pay great attention to the arrangement and improvement of various ICT systems of the port, as well as the development of new solutions in order to ensure that the Port of Riga complies with the highest modern port requirements in this field. The experience and support from the Port of Rotterdam will be highly useful for us in this work as well”, Ansis Zeltiņš is convinced.