On August 30, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Latvia, Timur Primbetov, visited Liepaja on a one-day working visit. The Ambassador met with the management of the City of Liepaja and the Liepaja SEZ Authority to discuss opportunities for cooperation and exchange of commodities with Kazakhstan. Right now, the Liepaja Port terminals handle cargoes from Kazakhstan, however, as the Ambassador emphasized, that it is very important to expand the existing cooperation and to create new joint projects.

The geopolitical situation has significantly affected the transit business sector and introduced significant changes in the exchange of goods, logistics and market demand. Due to the introduced sanctions, the flow of goods in Europe is changing, which also explains the interest of businessmen from both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in the Baltic states, Latvia and, of course, the Port of Liepaja.

According to the CEO of the Liepaja SEZ Uldis Hmieļevskis, the Latvia-Kazakhstan relations are very important. "Cargoes from Kazakhstan are already transshipped in the Port of Liepaja - aluminum, ferroalloys, agricultural cargoes to Europe and other parts of the world, while soy products, sugar, industrial equipment from the world and the European countries are shipped to Kazakhstan. "It is very important to meet, to show the possibilities of Liepaja and the Port, to ensure the circulation of information between the Liepaja and Kazakh entrepreneurs through the Embassy of Kazakhstan. Every opportunity should be used, as it is the only way to obtain performance indicators that are reflected in the city and the state budget."

Juris Matvejevs, member of the board of LSEZ SIA "Liepaja Bulk Terminal", confirms: "There is a lot of activity. Today, we discussed with the Ambassador of Kazakhstan what the Liepaja Port terminals can offer, as well as the opportunities for cooperation. We started working with Kazakhstan more than 15 years ago, then there was a break related to logistics costs, however, now the situation has changed significantly. We are interested in the return of cargo from Kazakhstan, and it is gradually taking place."

Already in the middle of September, representatives of the Liepaja SEZ Authority with the unified brand "Via Latvia" will participate in the international transport and logistics exhibition and conference "TransLogistica Kazakhstan 2022", which will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan.