Lithuania and China seal accord to set up a joint venture providing forwarding and logistics servicevs
A joint company of Lithuania and the People's Republic of China (China) providing freight forwarding and logistics services will be set up in Lithuania, says press center of Lithuania’s Ministry of Transport and Communications. This was confirmed on 23 November in Beijing during Lithuania-China Business Forum, where an agreement on establishing the company was signed by the managers of JSC “Lithuanian Railways” and Chinese logistics company “China Merchants Logistics Holding”. Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Algirdas Butkevičius attended the signing ceremony in the framework of his working visit to the People's Republic of China.
The Joint Undertaking will provide freight forwarding services between Lithuania, Belarus and China, as well as provide logistics services. The first cargo arriving in the port of Klaipeda will contain the building materials necessary to the construction of an enormous industrial park “Great Stone”. “China Merchants Group”, the managing body of logistics company “China Merchants Logistics Holding”, carries out investments to the park worth of around USD 500 million.
According to Stasys Dailydka, Director General of JSC “Lithuanian Railways”, the cooperation with this Chinese logistics company will not exclusively be limited to the building material forwarding.
“The signed agreement will provide more opportunities not only for the both companies that are setting up the joint undertaking, but also for the businesses. We will transport building materials for the industrial park. However, once the construction of this part will be completed, we will be in a great position to deliver the necessary goods and establish joint container trail projects” said Stasys Dailydka.
It is expected that the joint Lithuania-Chinese freight forwarding company will start to operate already in the first six-month period of 2016.
“China Merchants Group” is a large state-owned enterprise operating in such core industries as transportation and relevant infrastructure construction, operation and services (port, highway, energy transportation and logistics), financial investment and management, real estate development and management. The company was founded in 1872. Operation headquarter of the company is in Hong Kong. In 2014, the company’s profit reached record heights with almost CNY 28 billion net profit (EUR 3.9 billion). The total assets of the company reach almost CNY 5.35 trillion (approximately EUR 745 billion).
“China Merchants Logistics Holding” is a “China Merchants Group”owned enterprise responsible for logistics and freight forwarding services.
