Latviski
According to the said by the Minister of Transport Mr.Ainars Slesers during the conference "The Role of the Freeport of Riga in Creation of the New European Logistics Platform" today, Russia is ready to flatten port tariffs that could result in increase of cargo turnover of the Latvian ports by 20%.
Mr. Slesers indicates, that in case Russia decides to flatten tariffs in order to join the Word Trade Organisation, within 5-6 years the Freeport of Riga could double its turnover.
Mr.Slesers emphasized that despite political disagreements and growing port competition within EU, the ports must agree on how to increase competitiveness and must cooperate among each other, as "determining limitations only will not help".
The morning session chairman, Prof. Willy Winkelmans from Institute of Transport and Maritime Management of Antwerp forecasted the increase of East – West corridors’ in the future. Currently North – South axle dominates EU transport market.
Prof.Winkelmans specified that the index of logistical "friendliness" for Latvia is 57%, which he described as "god positions". The index for Estonia is 63%, for Lithuania – 71%, the average index for "old EU member states" is 85%.
