Minister of Transport and Communications of Finland Anne Berner and Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure of Estonia Kadri Simson will meet in Helsinki on 30 November 2018. The meeting will also be attended by Mayor of Helsinki Jan Vapaavuori and Deputy Mayor of Tallinn Andrej Novikov.
The topics of the ministerial meeting will be Rail Baltica and the Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel. These projects would together provide a fast connection to central Europe. The topic was discussed at the joint session of the Finnish and Estonian Governments on 7 May 2018 and it was agreed to further promote the projects.
The feasibility of a tunnel between Helsinki and Tallinn has been studied in Finland and Estonia. Helsinki and Tallinn could together form an economic region of 1.5 million people. The potential utilisation of the region to the full would call for faster and smoother travelling between the cities than is presently possible.
Rail Baltica is a planned rail section that would extend over around 1,000 km from Tallinn via the Baltic countries to Warsaw in Poland. The project is coordinated by RB Rail AS, a joint venture of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Finland has an opportunity to become a partner in the venture.
After the meeting, the Ministers and Mayors will present the results of their meeting in a press conference that will be held in the Press Room of the Government Palace on 30 November starting at 11.45.
Inquiries:
Director-General Sabina Lindström, tel. +358 40 527 6103
Communications Director Susanna Niinivaara (press conference), tel. + 358 40 081 6187
