Latvia’s state-owned railway company, Latvijas Dzelzcels (LDz), carried 7.746mn tonnes of rail cargo in the first half of 2023, which was 36.7% less than in the same period of 2022, LETA reports. The volume of international freight amounted to 7.041mn tonnes (down 39.2%), while domestic freight doubled to 705,000 tonnes. LDz board chairman Rinalds Plavnieks…
Belarusian exiles in Lithuania have protested against what they say is “growing hostility” towards Belarusians, BNS reports. Volha Karach, director of the Lithuania-based NGO, Nash Dom (Our House), said that Belarusians in Lithuania were “victims of their openness.” She noted that Lithuanian authorities now deemed past military service or links to state institutions in Belarus…
Latvia’s Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) has released a list of Latvian companies that continue to export to Russia and Belarus, LETA reports. Economy Minister Ilze Indriksone instructed CSB to publish the list, which includes nearly 1,000 companies. The most common goods exported from Latvia to Russia include food products, alcoholic beverages, chemicals, medical products, machinery,…
Lithuania’s Energy Ministry plans to increase the protection of the country’s electricity infrastructure and Polish-owned oil company Orlen Lietuva’s refinery, BNS reports. Under an order drafted by Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys, the state will place key electricity infrastructure, including network connections with other countries, at a higher level of protection. Also, the state will place…
Estonia’s electricity distribution system operator, Elektrilevi, plans to double investments in its networks to EUR 1bn over the next five years, ERR reports. Also, the state will invest around EUR 13mn in making the electricity infrastructure on the islands of Hiiumaa, Muhu, and Saaremaa more weather resistant. Elektrilevi will invest EUR 4mn to replace over…
The average interest rates on home loans in the Baltic States stood at 5.12% in the second quarter of 2023, which was 3 percentage points higher than in the same period of 2022, ERR reports. The average rate was the highest in 14 years. The Baltic States have the highest mortgage interest rates in the…
Latvia’s Riga City Council has elected New Unity’s Vilnis Kirsis as the capital city’s new mayor, LETA reports. Kirsis named street renovation, construction of new housing, and investment in education as his policy priorities. Kirsis served as acting mayor after the resignation of Martins Stakis, who represented the Progressives and Movement For, in early July…
Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland are discussing the possibility of closing their borders with Belarus completely, Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite announced, BNS reports. Bilotaite said that the final details of a “synchronous regional decision” would be worked out at talks in Warsaw on 28 August 2023. Earlier, the Lithuanian government closed two checkpoints on the…
Estonia’s Minister of Justice, Kalle Laanet (Reform), has proposed that citizens of “aggressor states” be deprived of the right to vote in local elections in Estonia, ERR reports. The ban would apply to nearly 69,000 Russian and Belarusian citizens who are permanent residents in Estonia. The voter turnout in Estonia’s previous municipal elections in October…