The activities of the Northern Dimension Partnership on Transport and Logistics (NDPTL), an intergovernmental initiative of Transport Ministries in Northern Europe, hosted by the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), will end by 30 June 2025. This follows the expiry of the NDPTL Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 23 April 2025.
NDPTL is a regularly convening regional intergovernmental cooperation in the field of transport and logistics, supported by a dedicated project fund and secretariat hosted by NIB. It was established by the NDPTL MoU signed 2009 by EU services and transport ministries of transport in Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden. The NDPTL MoU validity is time limited, with final expiry date 23 April 2025. This will lead to termination of the NDPTL support fund on 23 April 2025. The Secretariat will work until expiry date, and cease to act on 30 June 2025 after completing final closure-related tasks.
Since the establishment of the support fund in 2012, NDPTL has funded and administered ten regional priority projects in the field of transport and logistics with a total reported spending of over EUR 6 million, including EUR 2,3 million NDPTL support fund grant. The supported projects have consisted of studies and design work, enabling substantial improvements of the regional transport connections in the Northern Dimension region. This includes upgrades of the ports of Umeå (SE), Luleå, (SE) Narvik (NO), Vasa (FI) & Gdansk (PL), the Saimaa Canal (FI) inland navigation route, catalysing use of railways for transboundary freight transports (LT-PL-BY), road upgrades Oulu – Kajaani (FI) and Finnish border (FI) – St. Petersburg (RU) as well as mainstreaming digitalization of freight transport information in the region. In addition to these support fund project activities NDPTL has i.a. drafted and agreed on a joint transboundary transport network plan, convened regional events and contributed with its expertise to policy processes in other organizations.
The European Union, Iceland and Norway suspended on 8 March 2022 until further notice all activities of the Northern Dimension policy which involve Russia and Belarus – after which the NDPTL cooperation has continued between EU, Estonia, Finland, Germany Latvia, Lithuania Norway, Poland and Sweden. Since 2022, NDPTL has focused on catalysing digitalization, sustainability and resilience of transport and logistics by successfully applying and implementing EU and regional cooperation projects. These project activities will continue until 23 April 2025.
NDPTL was established as one of the four partnerships of the overall Northern Dimension Policy of EU, Russia, Norway and Iceland. The other three include the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP) established in 2001 (discontinued in 2023), the Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Wellbeing (NDPHS) established in 2003 and the Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture (NDPC) established in 2010.