Business network got an overview of RB funding issues at year-end business lunch

Rail Baltica Business Network Estonia summarised its activities for the year and received an update on the current status of the project from Keit Kasemets, Chancellor of the Estonian Ministry of Climate, at a business lunch in December. The Chancellor outlined the next steps for the construction of Rail Baltica, focusing mainly on issues related to the financing of the project.

“The increasing activity of the Rail Baltica business network is encouraging. Over the years, more than a quarter of a hundred Estonian companies, consultants and researchers from infrastructure, transport and other sectors have contributed to the discussions through the Business Network, and regular meetings are all the more necessary now that we are already discussing the practical challenges of implementing the project.” said Kasemets, who has been a long-standing supporter of the Rail Baltic project and a key backer of the project’s financing as head of the Estonian representation to the EU.

Ott Lumi, a board member of the Rail Baltica Estonia Business Network, said the past year had been a successful and busy one for the network. “We have also grown in terms of membership, and we are very pleased to welcome Invest Estonia foundation as a member of the network,” Lumi said.

“We continue to be in close contact with the business network, both with the Rail Baltic Estonia team and the Rail Baltica joint venture organization in Riga. We are planning new activities next year, which will focus on finding potential cooperation partners in the international Rail Baltica corridor and ensuring that they are better informed of the business potential of the project,” said Lumi, who added that one of the focuses for the coming year will be to enable the business network’s members to get to know the RB sites in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The non-profit Rail Baltica Business Network Estonia was established in 2015 to give businesses a better voice in issues related to the new Rail Baltica and to involve the business community early in the development of Rail Baltica and the mapping of related business opportunities. The network now includes 28 companies and organisations, 2 of which are supporting members.