国际英语新闻:Baltic presidents reaffirm commitment to regional infrastructure projects

RIGA, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- The presidents of the Baltic states -- Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania -- are determined to advance the Rail Baltica railway project and to ensure its completion as scheduled, Latvian President Egils Levits said at a joint news conference with his Baltic counterparts here on Tuesday.

Levits, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda reaffirmed their commitment to the regional rail infrastructure project and voiced their resolve to help the project's managers overcome all difficulties.

"We are united in our political position: the project must be completed and it must be done on time," said Levits.

The presidents also discussed the synchronization of the Baltic power grids with the European network, which is due to be completed by 2025.

Nauseda called on his counterparts to help complete these projects as soon as possible. "In Lithuania, we have already started work to implement Rail Baltica and the synchronization of the power grids as soon and efficiently as possible," the Lithuanian leader said.

Rail Baltica is a double track, European standard 1,435 mm gauge electrified railway for passenger and freight transport to be built from Tallinn via Riga to the Lithuanian-Polish border. The overall length of the railway will be 870 kilometers. The total cost of Rail Baltica project is estimated at around 5.8 billion euros (6.47 billion U.S. dollars).