The European Commission announced this week that the next phase of Rail Baltica in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania would receive EUR 928 million from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). With this decision, the European Union is also supporting the modernization of air traffic management and the purchase of a new icebreaker as efforts related to…
Russia’s war in Ukraine has prompted Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to accelerate the building of their armed forces, writes Tony Lawrence, research fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) in Estonia. Since regaining their independence in the early 1990s, the three Baltic States have put a high priority on constructing modern, effective…
Lithuania’s decision to speed up synchronization of the country’s electricity grid with continental Europe is a breach of the agreement signed with Estonia and Latvia, Taavi Veskimagi, head of the Estonian transmission operator Elering, has said. All three Baltic States are scheduled to synchronize from the BRELL grid, which connects Belarus, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania and…
Estonia is the smallest of the Baltic States, while its national budget revenue and spending are the highest of all three countries – although Lithuania is set to overtake Estonia in both of these indicators in 2023, according to Svetlana Nesinova, senior tax consultant at BDO Latvia, in an interview with the Baltic Business Quarterly…
Work on pan-Baltic high-speed link Rail Baltica’s main line begins in earnest this year. Marko Kivila, acting head of the Riga-based joint venture RB Rail, said that the three Baltic States: “Have chosen different approaches to construction strategy,” which in part would reflect the different topography of the three countries. “If we look at what…
The first of two updated high-voltage electricity lines connecting Estonian-Latvian electricity was launched on June 9. The cables will eventually allow the Baltic States to disconnect from the Russian grid and officials say the project is on schedule. The project has already been underway for 15 years and, when it is completed, it will guarantee…
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) predicts that economic growth is expected only in Latvia among the Baltic countries: the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by 1.1% this year, and a 2.4% increase is expected next year. In November, the OECD predicted that Latvia’s GDP would increase by 0.2% and 2.3% this…