Pan-Baltic arrangement needed for co-operation with Dutch mail company

The Dutch mail company TPG Post International is not interested in cooperation only with the Latvian state-owned postal company Latvijas Pasts therefore the latter will urge other Baltic mail services to join in, said Latvijas Pasts director general Gints Skodovs.

“The Dutch mail company is not interested in Latvia alone, it is interested in the entire Baltic region,” said Skodovs, who had met with TPG Post International management this week during the Latvian president’s visit to the Netherlands.

He told BNS it had been agreed that Latvijas Pasts will arrange a meeting in Riga with participation of Estonian and Lithuanian mail companies in the coming months.

Skodovs said Latvijas Pasts already was cooperating with one of TPG Post International subsidiaries, TNT Latvia, but on a small scale and this cooperation should be expanded in future.

The Dutch company could use Latvia for its business in Russia, said the Latvijas Pasts director general. “Why shouldn’t Latvijas Pasts become one of their cooperation partners in Eastern Europe?” he said.

Latvijas Pasts is 100-percent owned by the Latvian state. In 2003 the company posted a net turnover of 24.505 million lats (EUR 34.86 mln) and its revenues were 2.37 million lats larger than costs. All in all, Latvijas Pasts has 965 post offices across Latvia and a number of postal service counters in the supermarkets.

Some 55 Latvian business people, including Skodovs, this week accompanied Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga on her state visit to the Netherlands.

(EUR 1 = LVL 0.7028)

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