By The Baltic Review (December 2, 2011)
Presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, continuing a traditional meeting of the leaders of the Baltic States, discussed the issues of regional security and cooperation in implementing energy and transport projects. After the meeting, the EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas presented to the Presidents the railway project “RailBaltica” intended to connect the Baltic countries, Helsinki and Warsaw.
President Dalia Grybauskait? emphasized that the ending of energy and transport isolation in the region was an important goal to attain for enhancing the independence and security of the Baltic States.
“We are members of the European Union, yet the actual integration of the Baltic region into the European Economic Area has not been completed until now. We should stand together and prevent any, internal or external, factors hindering the implementation of significant projects that will serve to ensure the security and well-being in the region,” she said.
“RailBaltica”, one of the key projects of integration of the Baltic transport, is considered as a trans-European corridor connecting the Baltic countries, Finland and Poland. As for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, such railway would highly facilitate and make shorter the traveling and cargo carriage from the Baltics to Central Europe.
The EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas underlined that “RailBaltica” was a key priority project for the European transport networks. The railway “RailBaltica” is included in the European Commission’s communication “A Budget for Europe 2020? as a transport corridor connecting the Baltic Sea and the Adriatic Sea (Austria and Italy) for which the EU funding is stipulated.
The following tripartite meeting of the Presidents will take place next year in Lithuania as our country will chair cooperation among the three Baltic States.
