“We have decided to establish a joint venture with Latvia and Estonia. Transport ministers of the Baltic countries should, on September 16, sign a declaration on implementation of that project,” Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius told reporters after the Cabinet’s meeting.
“We had a discussion with top level lawyers this morning and I have really to say that we are working intensively and coordinating positions on the signing of final documents,” he added.
Late in July, negotiators from three Baltic countries reached an agreement on the principles for setting up a joint venture for the Rail Baltica project. As agreed, each country will own railway infrastructure in its respective territory.
Lithuania’s Transport Minister Rimantas Sinkevičius previously opposed the idea to establish a joint venture, in which case Lithuanian infrastructure would be controlled by a joint venture headquartered in Latvia - something which would be unfavorable to Lithuania and would go against its Constitution, he claimed. The minister previously called to establish a European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG) instead of a joint venture.
