On 25 June 2009, a conference was held in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, at the invitation of the Lithuanian railway company Lietuvos geležinkeliai (LG).
The Berlin-Brandenburg region was represented by Prof. Dr. Andreas Timmermann, Director of the Department for Foreign Trade and Market Access in the Economic Promotion Department of the Brandenburg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Carl Ahlgrimm, Mayor Großbeeren, Dr. Norbert Wagener, coordinator LogisticsNetz Berlin-Brandenburg and Managing Director Wagener & Herbst, Grit Kämmerer of IPG mbH and Wulfram Overmann of WAGENER & HERBST (W&H).
The conference was attended by representatives of the Lithuanian Ministry of Transport and Communication under the leadership of Vice-Minister Rimvydas Vastakas, the management of the welcoming Lithuanian Railway Company, led by General Manager Stasys Dailydka, as well as representatives of cities and surrounding communities of Vilnius, Klaipeda and Kaunas as well as of planning institutions and logistics associations.
In Lithuania, the development of three freight transport centers has been defined in the national transport strategy. Ernst & Young Baltic UAB, the IPG and W & H on behalf of the Lithuanian Railway are currently working on a feasibility study for a GVZ in the capital region of Lithuania. The two other GVZs are to be built in Klaipeda near the harbor as well as in Kaunas.
The focus of the event was the presentation of the success models of the Berlin GVZs and the presentation of the Berlin-Brandenburg Logistics and Economic Region. The impact of a GVZ settlement for a municipality was mediated by Mayor Ahlgrimm using the example of Großbeeren.
Interim results of the ongoing project were presented by Ernst & Young, LG and W & H. The final presentation is scheduled for the end of September 2009 in Vilnius. The participants intensively used the meeting to ask open questions about the development of the GVZ and to exchange ideas with the German partners.
At the press conference held afterwards, a very positive review of the event was held. An intensification of cooperation between Lithuania and Brandenburg is being pursued to transfer the success model of the freight transport centers to Lithuania.