Riga vice-mayor Ainārs Šlesers speaks at yesterday's press conference. Photo used courtesy of Free Port of Riga.

RIGA — Riga vice mayor and chairman of Free Port of Riga Ainārs Šlesers announced yesterday that hundreds of million of lats will be invested into the city’s port over the next four years in a bid to increase cargo traffic from 30 million to 50 million tons.

Funding for the expansion will derive from a combination  of European Union structural funds, the Latvian government and private investors.

Šlesers didn’t mention any exact names on who the private investors would be but said the city was discussing the project with potential investors in Commonwealth of Independent States countries (CIS). The port is a major hub for Russian and Belorussian businesses’ transport.

The port primarily handles coal, fertilizer and timber. Photo used courtesy of the Free Port of Riga.

Šlesers asserted that investing in the port could help Latvia turn around its rapidly shrinking economy.

“The crisis in the country will pass if priority is given to the port,” the mayor said.

Unlike most other business in the country, the port’s cargo grew 1.3 percent through the first six months of 2009 despite crisis.

This is a much slower growth pace than last year, when cargo turnover increased 14 percent from January to June 2008.