Transport Counsellor participates in the Asia Logistics, Maritime, and Aviation conference

From 21-22 November 2023, Helmuts Kols, the Transport Counsellor of the Ministry of Transport of Latvia at the Embassy of Latvia in China, participated in the Asian Logistics, Maritime, and Aviation Conference (ALMAC) in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. 

This year, ALMAC focused on diversification, decarbonization, and digitalization for future-proofing supply chains. Climate change, environmental responsibility, and sustainability are among the key issues that are increasingly driving the new economic development agenda around the world. Geopolitical tensions, conflicts, trade protectionism with product, material, and labour restrictions, continue to cause major supply chain disruptions. Despite these challenges, the global value chains are expected to grow in the years to come. 

Latvia's transport and logistics sector attaches great importance to international cooperation, thus promoting, developing, and sustaining multimodal transport connectivity, as well as diversifying Latvia’s traditional cargo and passenger flows and developing third-market cooperation via Latvia. 

Geographically by land, railway, and air distance, Latvia is the closest European Union country to Asia. Correspondingly, Latvia focuses on aviation, railway, port and shipping, logistics, postal, and e-commerce bilateral and multilateral cooperation. The transport and logistics sector of Latvia is actively pursuing comprehensive green thinking practices across all modes of transportation.

Latvia is interested to work with international partners to maintain and improve the connectivity between Asia and Europe through Latvia. Riga International Airport offers a vast network of passenger and cargo routes in northern Europe. Latvian national air carrier - airBaltic is already operating the youngest jet fleet in Europe, consisting solely of one of the world’s greenest and environmentally friendly commercial aircraft. On the ground, Latvian Railways offers direct hinterland access to Central Asian countries and Latvian seaports provide a multimodal transport solution with major shipping routes through the Baltic Sea. 

Latvia welcomes cooperation to introduce new technologies, ecological and environmentally friendly solutions in the ports of Riga, Ventspils, and Liepaja, to upgrade and develop new industries that can further incorporate Latvia into the global green, resilient, and sustainable industrial supply chains.

ALMAC is a premier supply chain event that annually brings together logistics, maritime, air freight, and supply chain management services providers, and shippers, including manufacturers, traders, and distributors, to exchange market intelligence and explore business opportunities. The two-day event in Hong Kong brought together more than 2,000 professionals and 80 experts from over 36 countries and regions. Participation in ALMAC was made possible by the invitation and support provided by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC).