Last week, Tang Songgen, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Latvia, visited SJSC “Latvijas dzelzceļš” (LDz), during which he met with Rinalds Pļavnieks, Chairman of the Board of LDz, and discussed opportunities for further development of cooperation between China and Latvia in the field of freight transport.
Rinalds Plavnieks, Chairman of the Board of LDz, introduced Tang Songgen to LDz's activities in attracting cargoes - Latvia has established rail connectivity with eight Chinese cities and seven provinces, ensuring transportation of individual and separate container batches. In total, between 2016 and 2022, LDz has operated 274 China-bound container trains, transporting more than 18,000 containers.
"Even in these difficult geopolitical conditions, we remain actively interested in providing multimodal container transport from China and other East and Central Asian countries via the ports of Riga, Ventspils and Liepāja to destinations in Europe. Cooperation is already underway and Chinese partners can activate existing rail corridors at any time by redirecting container train flows through Latvian territory. LDz, for its part, is ready to build and maintain comprehensive and sustainable connectivity through Latvia," said Rinalds Pļavnieks, Chairman of the Board of SJSC “Latvijas dzelzceļš”.
During the meeting, the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Latvia, Mr Tang Songgen, expressed his confidence in the possibilities to continue and expand cooperation, highlighting Latvia's potential role within the New Silk Road platform.
The Chairman of the Board of LDz and the Ambassador agreed to continue to work on the offer of services to partners in China, and Ambassador Songgen invited LDz to consider the possibility of participating in industry forums and other events where LDz would be able to directly address cargo owners and potential customers.