“There is an element of competition in here because a lot of decisions that we will make are based on commercial terms, so that is something that we have to be conscious of,” she told BNS after visiting Afghanistan with the Lithuanian delegation led by Defense Minister Juozas Olekas.
“But Lithuania has a lot to offer. It has a major port that has some unique abilities and I think in that sense it stands very good chances of definitely participating in the whole process,” McCarthy said.
Andrejus Ponomariovas, a representative of Lithuania’s rail company Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways) who also visited Afghanistan, told BNS that around 1,000 containers from Afghanistan had been transported through Lithuania thus far and discussions on further shipments continued on a regular basis.
“Two routes are being used – through Uzbekistan and Kirgizia. Around 1,000 containers have already been transported. Discussions on further shipments continue on a regular basis,” the head of Freight Forwarding Division at Lietuvos Geležinkeliai told BNS.
According to Ponomariovas, Lietuvos Geležinkeliai could offer a full range of services pertaining to freight transportation, including forwarding through other territories and carriage by other modes of transport, as well as other additional services, such as warehousing, reloading, port forwarding.
“We maintain very close cooperation with both the companies active in the port of Klaipėda and with other Lithuanian and foreign companies,” he said.
Lithuania is also discussing transportation of US cargo to and from Afghanistan with Kazakhstan. On Monday, Transport Minister Rimantas Sinkevičius talked about the issue with Askar Mamin, president of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (Kazakhstan Railways).
The Lithuanian minister said afterwards that the airport of Zokniai could also be added to the supply chain of non-military NATO cargoes.
As reported previously, the flow of cargo through the port of Klaipėda is expected to increase in particular as VPA Logistics, one of Lithuania’s largest logistics companies, has signed a cooperation agreement with NATO’s authorized representative, GaTe Logistics, for the transportation of food and other goods from and to Afghanistan through the Lithuanian port.
NATO plans to end its military mission in Afghanistan next year.
