Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis says the country's port of Klaipėda is on the preliminary list of seaports for NATO countries' cargo transit from Afghanistan as the Alliance is getting ready for ending tactical actions in the country.

"There's a preliminary list of ports. I won’t say how many of them there are but Klaipėda and our designed route to Afghanistan and Central Asia is among them," the minister told BNS when asked when ports selected for the so-called NATO reverse cargo transit will be known.

According to the minister, it should not take long, as Afghanistan authorities are taking over more and more control in the country.

"We have to admit that our counterparts from other Baltic states' ports are also getting ready," Ažubalis said after a Wednesday meeting with heads of Klaipėda cargo handling companies Klaipėdos Smeltė and Klaipėdos Konteinerių Terminalas, where they discussed NATO's non-military cargo transit to and from Afghanistan.

The foreign minister added that he was impressed with preparations of KlaipÄ—da Port for the "reverse transit."

"Expansion plans are not only on the paper. They have already ordered cranes not only Klaipėda but also other Baltic ports don’t have," Ažubalis said.

The first NATO cargo was shipped to Lithuania in December 2010. Larger cargo flows of countries, mainly the US, taking part in the NATO operation in Afghanistan started arriving in Lithuania in the fall of 2011.

Currently, NATO military are considering routes for taking equipment out of Afghanistan. The Baltic states want as much of the so-called reverse transit cargo as possible to go via their territories.