Efforts to assist Ukraine in exporting its agricultural products have exposed the Baltic countries’ insufficient transport capabilities, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said in Tallinn on Monday.
He also urged the acceleration of the Rail Baltica European standard-gauge railway project.
“Our efforts to help Ukraine to transport agricultural products pointed to the insufficiency of connectivity capacity in the Baltic states. Implementation of the Rail Baltica project must be sped up,” he said at a joint news conference with his Estonian and Latvian counterparts.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs also said that Rail Baltica is important not only for passenger transport but also for security.
“We need to push, and we need to work so that the Rail Baltic network becomes a success story – not only to connect our countries with Europe but also to ensure military mobility in times of geopolitical uncertainty,” he said.
The Lithuanian and Polish segments of Rail Baltica are expected to be completed in 2028, with the entire project to link Baltic countries to Europe slated for completion in 2030.
The total length of the Rail Baltica line in the Baltic countries will be 870 kilometres, including 392 kilometres in Lithuania.
At their annual meeting in Tallinn on Monday, the three Baltic presidents discussed regional security, infrastructure issues, and support for Ukraine.
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