Valdo Kalm, CEO of the Estonian state-owned port company Port of Tallinn, said that possible cooperation with Chinese companies would most likely be together with the state-owned rail freight operator EVR Cargo.
“Interest in and openness to cooperation with Chinese companies is of course there from our side,” Kalm said. “There was certain activity that could be seen last fall, but we are more so dealing here with Estonian Railways (EVR), trying to get regular trains going – our focus is more on that.”
According to the CEO, the Chinese did visit last year, including several large companies, but there had been no further developments recently.
The Port of Tallinn is interested in getting a Chinese logistics company or distribution center to Estonia through which it would be possible to service the Scandinavian market, the Baltics and Russia. There is also interest in cooperation in tourism in connection with cruise ships and liners.
A business delegation from Beijing visited Estonia this week in the framework of Tallinn’s Beijing Week 2018.
Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry director Mait Palts and Beijing Chamber of Commerce deputy director Wang Chaoying signed a cooperation agreement according to which the two chambers wanted to strengthen cooperation in the fields of tourism and information technology.
“Estonia is one of the key countries of the One Belt One Road transport corridor, through which China could enter the EU market,” Chaoying said. “The cooperation agreement with the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will definitely help China achieve this goal.” (ERR/Business World Magazine)
