2003 OVERVIEW OF WORLDWIDE BILATERAL RELATIONS

Overview of worldwide bilateral relations

United States, Western and Southern Europe One of the essential factors of Estonian foreign and security policy in 2003 was the main source of the political, economic and military power in the transatlantic co-operation area – the OF AMERICA. US support is one of the main preconditions to guaranteeing ’s security.

US support was confirmed on May 8, 2003 when the US Senate ratified the NATO acces- sion protocols of the seven acceding countries, including Estonia, with 96 votes for and none against. The successful ratification was followed by a meeting of the Foreign Minister, and the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament, Marko Mihkelson, who had both been invited to follow the ratifi- cation procedure, with President Bush and members of the US Senate Foreign Affairs committee.

Another example of the strong allied status given to Estonia was the exchange of visits by the Commander of Estonian Defence Forces, Vice-Admiral Tarmo Kõuts in May, and the Chairman of the Joint Heads of Staff Committee General Richard Myers in June 2003.

2003 also showed growing interest of the United States towards Estonia as a future member. The numerous high level bilateral meetings between Estonian and US officials showed the growing importance of Estonian views – among the visits, the most important was that of a US delegation led by Charles Ries, who is responsible for US-EU relations at the State Department. The delegation, which met with a number of Estonian officials, was comprised of a number of high-ranking officials and included the officials that were best informed of Estonia.

Estonia-United States co-operation is expected to receive new impetus also in the con- text of the Baltic Sea area and cross-border co-operation. On October 15 2003, the US announced that the “renewed partnership in Northern-Europe” EPINE was made their new policy as a continuation to the Northern European Initiative (NEI).According to the US, the EPINE policy has three main goals

- co-operation in the fight against terrorism and weapons of mass-destruction, but also in NATO and PFP programmes,

- assistance in solving cross-border social problems – i.e. the so-called “healthy soci eties, healthy neighbours” issues.

- economic policy issues, primarily the encouragement of investment, trade and busi ness between the US and the Nordic-Baltic region.

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Co-operation with the UNITED KINGDOM was very good and close in the European Convention, which created a good overall background for the bilateral relations. A good example of shared understandings and values was the joint article by the Prime Ministers of the two countries published in the Financial Times. During the past year, numerous high level visits were made, among which those made by the Chairman of the Estonian Parliament Ene Ergma, the Minister of Finance Tõnis Palts, the Minister of Justice Ken-Marti Vaher and the Minister of Education and Research Toivo Maimets were of importance. Estonia hosted visits by the Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine, the Secretary of State for Scotland Helen Liddell, the Minister of Education Charles Clarke and the First Minister of Wales, Rhodri Morgan in 2003. As a token of historic significance, an annual memorial service held on December 11 2003, dedicated to the British servicemen who perished in the Estonian War of Liberation, should be mentioned. The service was attended by Sir Alan West, First Sea Lord and the Chief of the Naval Staff.

The economic relations between Estonia and the United Kingdom are showing signs of good progress. In 2003, the UK was Estonia’s 7th largest trade partner and British invest- ments in Estonia also showed a growth tendency, being the sixth largest investor at the close of the year.

Relations with IRELAND, which had been relatively modest at the highest official level, became more active in 2003 owing to the upcoming Irish Presidency of the European Union. In February, the first official visit of an Estonian Prime Minister, , to Ireland took place. During the past year, no less than six Irish cabinet members, includ- ing Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, paid visits to Estonia. On December 12, the Irish Times published a special issue on Estonia, which confirmed the notion that Estonia and Ireland have much in common, especially as concerns their views on the future of Europe.

For a number of years the trade balance between Estonia and Ireland showed a contin- uous, deficit for Estonia. Last year, for the first time the trade balance became positive for Estonia.

With the large number of various events in the framework of European integration, bilat- eral relations with GERMANY continued to develop actively last year. Similar to other EU Member States, relations with Germany assumed an increasingly multilateral aspect. Also as a result of direct relations with different Bundesländer, economic and cultural co-operation acquired greater importance in 2003. At the same time, it was stated repeatedly, that greater importance should be given to the German Länder as actors in the regional co-operation in the Baltic Sea area.

There were also a number of important bilateral visits. In June, President Arnold Rüütel paid an official visit to Germany, during which meetings with President Johannes Rau and chancellor Gerhard Schröder took place.

In September, Prime Minister paid a visit to Germany, in his opinion the most important of his visits last year. He met with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to dis- cuss European integration and related issues, but Parts also met with the Minister- President of Bavaria, Edmund Stoiber to discuss among other things the advantageous investment climate in Estonia for Bavarian investors.

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In November, Estonian Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland met with her German col- league Joschka Fischer in Berlin to discuss the issues related to the future of the European Union, regional co-operation as well as security policy issues.

Considering the growing attention given to co-operation in the Baltic Sea area it was only natural that a number of German länder leaders visited Estonia last year, such as the Minister-President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and his colleague in Schleswig- Holstein. It should be noted in that contacts and co-operation between Estonia and the German Bundesländer have been very good for years.

Trade between Estonia and Germany continued its growth in 2003, although the trade balance remained negative for Estonia. Germany retained its 2nd place ranking among importers of Estonian goods, while its share of investments in Estonia ranked it accord- ing to different sources from 5th-7th place. It is realistic to assume that the upcoming accession of Estonia to the EU will enhance Estonia’s attraction to German investors, similar to those from other older member countries.

In connection with Estonia’s accession to the EU increased interest in our country has also grown in BELGIUM. The most important visits in 2003, were those by Belgium’s State Secretary for European Affairs, Jacques Simonet to Estonia and the Estonian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee to Brussels. A noteworthy event in Estonian- Belgian relations was the signing of a co-operation agreement for 2004-2005 by the joint Estonia-Flanders committee.

The Belgian business circles showed a growing interest in Estonia and the other Baltic states last year. Several business seminars, conferences and the so-called Baltic weeks were organised.

Trade between Estonia and Belgium has grown steadily. In 2003, Estonian exports to Belgium increased by almost a half, while imports from Belgium decreased slightly. The trade balance, however, still remained negative for Estonia.

Contacts in culture were very active in 2003. Estonian musicians gave several concerts and exhibitions of Estonian art were held in Brussels.

When the tensions of the first months of 2003 had subsided, the relations with FRANCE continued in the traditional spirit of friendly co-operation. A number of high level visits took place like those by the Minister Delegate for European Affairs, Noëlle Lenoir and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly. Estonian President Arnold Rüütel, Chairman of the Parliament Ene Ergma, Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland and several other high-ranking officials made working visits to France during 2003.

As usual, the traditional bilateral politico-military consultations continued, taking place this year in Paris.

Trade with France continued to grow in 2003. At the end of the year a joint seminar host- ed by the Paris and Estonian Chambers of Trade and Commerce took place. The Paris Chamber of Trade and Commerce organised a trade mission to Estonia.

Noteworthy in both economic and cultural context is also the operation of direct flights between and Paris, which began in April. The number of Estonian tourists who visited France last year grew by no less than 40 per cent.

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Also the French had several opportunities to acquaint themselves with Estonian culture through a large number of concerts and exhibitions held in 2003. The French media also produced several articles and programmes about Estonian politics, economy and cul- ture in 2003. Relations with the MEDITERRANEAN countries have traditionally been close and friendly, but at the same time fairly limited. Last year, the relations contained elements of a growing closeness. Several essential political meetings as well as a number of seri- ous cultural events were held. The most significant event, which carried great symbolic value in relations with , was the signing of the Accession Treaties on April 16, at the foot of the Acropolis. Estonian President Arnold Rüütel and Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland signed the treaties. In connection with the upcoming accession, a number of other Estonian politicians and officials paid visits to Greece in 2003. In August, Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland paid a visit to TURKEY to strengthen bilat- eral relations and to discuss the international situation in the region. In addition to meetings with the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the Foreign Minister, the Estonian Foreign Minister also participated in the opening of an international trade fair in Izmir. At the beginning of October, President Arnold Rüütel paid a state visit to . Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Estonia and Malta, the bilateral rela- tions have increased steadily. During the visit the importance of good relations and co- operation between the two small acceding countries was underscored. Before and during its Presidency of the European Union, ITALY paid great attention to developing its relations with the acceding countries. Thus, Estonia hosted the visits of the Italian Minister of Defence, Antonio Martino, the Minister of Transport Pietro Lunardi and the Minister for European Affairs, Rocco Buttiglione. Owing to the Intergovernmental Conference and other EU-related events, which took place in Italy, Estonian politicians and officials visited Italy on numerous occasions. By the end of 2003, Estonia had finally established diplomatic relations with both the tiny states on Italian soil – THE HOLY SEE and SAN MARINO. While the diplomatic rela- tions with the Holy See go back to 1921, the relations with San Marino were established in October 2003. The most important Estonian culture events in the region took place in Italy and Greece, where a number of concerts and exhibitions as well film showings were arranged. There were also joint events presenting the culture of all three Baltic States. Good co-operation in the sphere of higher education has existed with Italy and Greece for a number of years already. The biggest Estonian universities have partners in both Italy and Greece. The exchange of students and teachers is carried on within the frame- work of the ERASMUS programme. In the sphere of economic co-operation the most important partners for Estonia are nat- urally the largest countries of the region – Italy and Turkey, ranking respectively 13th and 28th largest among our trade partners. The Mediterranean region is especially important from the point of view of tourists. From 2001 to the end of 2003, the number of Estonian tourists visiting Italy grew by more than 60 per cent. At the same time, the number of Italian tourists visiting Estonia has been growing rapidly.

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Northern and Central Europe The traditionally active relations with the Nordic countries were marked by a multitude of reciprocal visits in 2003. New momentum was given to co-operation with the involve- ment of the Baltic States in the regular meetings of the Heads of the Governments of Denmark, and Finland held prior to the meetings of the Council of the European Union. In relations with the Nordic EU member states, the European Union and EU- related issues have become the prevalent theme. Also, in relations with the non-EU states Norway and Iceland, the EU has become a central topic due to the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement of which Estonia is a member.

The Nordic countries remain our most important trade partners – four of them are among the six biggest investors in the Estonian economy. The termination of bilateral assistance programmes, which were initiated by the Nordic countries in the early nineties have helped to change the nature of our relations and raised them to a level of equal partnership.

Relations with FINLAND in 2003 were characterised by a large number of high level vis- its, the Wise Men’s report, the development of relations in a broad spectre of fields and the termination of bilateral assistance projects.

Among the most prominent visits of the year, were those made by the Estonian Prime Minister Siim Kallas in January, the Finnish Prime Minister Anneli Jäättenmäki in May, the new Estonian Prime Minister Juhan Parts in July and the Finnish President Tarja Halonen. In October, the Speaker of the Finnish parliament, Paavo Lipponen paid a visit to Estonia with a parliamentary delegation comprised of the chairpersons of several par- liamentary committees.

When speaking of the developments in Estonian-Finnish relations, special mention should be made of the Wise Men’s report – a study devoted to the analysis of the present state of relations between the two countries and their prospects in the future consider- ing the impact of EU enlargement. The report was composed by a joint Estonian-Finnish working group headed by Estonian Ambassador Jaak Jõerüüt and former Bank of Finland Director, Esko Ollila.

Finland continues to be Estonia’s most important trade partner and Finnish investments into the Estonian economy are second only to those coming from Sweden. At present there are more than 1 900 enterprises in Estonia, which are partly or entirely financed by Finnish capital, approximately 900 companies are 100 per cent financed by Finnish cap- ital.

During the past year new initiatives were taken to intensify co-operation in environment protection, in particular concerning the maritime environment of the Gulf of Finland.

Unrelenting activity continued also in the sphere of combating organised crime. On July 22, the Ministers of the Interior reached a decision to extend co-operation in the fight against drug trafficking also to the fight against economic crimes.

The termination of bilateral assistance programmes can be considered a landmark in the history of Estonian-Finnish relations. From the year 2003 onwards, only a few proj- ects in the areas environmental protection and security will continue to receive assis- tance.

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Contrary to the apprehensions of some observers, Estonia’s forthcoming accession to NATO will not have a negative effect on the fruitful defence co-operation with Finland. The co-operation will continue in military training and education. Against the back- ground of lively political and economic co-operation it is only natural that cultural exchange between the two closely affiliated nations continued as usual.

The bilateral relations between Estonia and SWEDEN in 2003 were extremely active and a large number of high level visits took place. In January, President Arnold Rüütel paid a working visit to Sweden and in June the president participated in the festivities dedicat- ed to the 700th anniversary of the birth of St.Birgitta in Vadstena

During the past year, the Foreign Ministers exchanged visits and in August Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson paid a working visit to Estonia. All the meetings at the highest level were to a greater or lesser degree devoted to Estonia’s future EU member- ship and the ensuing consequences for both neighbours.

Sweden has for years been the greatest source of foreign investment in Estonia and will likely remain so in the foreseeable future. The share of Swedish investments in the total of direct investments made in Estonia is 39% and there are no signs of a decline in the Swedish investors’ interest in the Estonian economy.

There were also encouraging developments at the grass root level. Insofar as cultural exchange was concerned – the number of tourists from Sweden to Estonia showed a trend of steady growth last year and late last year a new passenger boat travelling the route between Stockholm and Tallinn was put into use. It is also worth mentioning that the ship was named “Victoria” and at her christening Ilon Wikland, the Estonian born illustrator of the world-famous books by , was chosen to be her god- mother.

Last but not least to exemplify the close relations between the countries, an extensive festival of Estonian culture took place in Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg, com- prising of concerts, exhibitions and seminars.

The most prominent events in Estonia’s relations with DENMARK were the Prime Ministers’ visits. Denmark was the first country that Prime Minister Juhan Parts visited after becoming the Head of Government. In August the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen visited Estonia. Naturally, the central theme of these meetings was the European Union, the forthcoming referendum on accession to the European Union in Estonia as well as the co-operation of the Nordic and Baltic countries in the EU, and the exchange of information and co-ordination of actions after the accession of the Baltic States.

Economic relations between Estonia and Denmark are extensive and vigorous. Denmark continues to be one of Estonia’s most important export markets. At the same time Danish businesses invest actively in the Estonian economy, presently Denmark is Estonia’s sixth largest source of foreign investment.

In 2003, active co-operation continued in the field of environment protection and in the near future it will be carried on with activities aimed at reducing the emission of green- house gases.

Relations with NORWAY have grown both in scope and intensity during the past years. Although no high level visits took place in 2003, a considerable number of working meet-

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ings and conferences were organised. New impetus was added to bilateral relations by Estonia’s signing of the EEA agreement. From October 2-3, an Estonian-Norwegian con- ference on regional co-operation took place, which gave a new impulse to the develop- ment of contacts and co-operation projects between the regions. For several years, co- operation in defence matters, especially concerning NATO, has been lively between the two countries. Norway was also the first country whose parliament ratified the NATO accession protocols.

From the point of view of developing business and private relations, the new direct flights between Tallinn and Oslo provided by the Estonian National Airline Estonian Air should create more movement between the two capitals. Last autumn a new Estonian Honorary Consulate was opened in the Norwegian harbour city Stavanger. Today, there are four Estonian honorary consulates in Norway.

ICELAND is a very special country for all Estonians, Iceland was the first nation to recog- nise the restoration of Estonia’s independence on August 22, 1991. The economic and trade relations between the nations are developing steadily, but their volume remains relatively modest. The lion’s share of Estonian exports to Iceland consists of timber and wood products (82%), while Iceland’s main export to Estonia is fish and fish products.

Co-operation in the field of culture and education has been lively, since the early nineties. While Iceland offers young Estonians opportunities to study the Icelandic lan- guage and culture, Estonia for its part is ready to offer young Icelandic researchers pos- sibilities for postgraduate studies.

Trilateral BALTIC CO-OPERATION continues to be one of the cornerstones of Estonian foreign policy. The similar foreign policy priorities of the three countries, accession to the EU and NATO, personify their mutual relations. Noteworthy among the tendencies of the trilateral co-operation of the past year was no doubt the mutual support and exchange of ideas before the referendums on accession to the European Union.

Relations with LATVIA comprised in 2003 of an active exchange of high-level visits, which were devoted to the problems connected to the EU referendums. Both the Presidents and Prime Ministers of the two countries visited each other’s countries for an exchange of views and experiences in matters related to EU accession.

The bilateral co-operation between the two neighbours was also intense at the parlia- mentary, governmental and municipal levels. In 2003, joint work groups for cross-bor- der co-operation were set up to promote co-operation between Southern Estonia and Northern Latvia.

At the same time economic ties between Estonia and Latvia continued to grow in 2003. According to the Bank of Estonia, Estonian investments into Latvia amounted to 3,2 bil- lion Estonian kroons last year representing 30 per cent of total Estonian foreign invest- ments. During the first nine months of 2003, Estonian exports to Latvia grew by approx- imately 25 per cent and Estonia was ranked Latvia’s fifth largest supplier of goods and services. Latvia is also very important for the Estonian tourism industry; the number of Latvians who visited Estonia last year was second only to the number of Finnish tourists.

Relations with LITHUANIA were to a great extent marked by activities connected to both NATO and EU enlargement. As was the case with Latvia, the exchange of visits in 2003, centred mostly on problems connected to EU and NATO enlargement, and the EU ref- erendum. President Arnold Rüütel visited Lithuania in July, while the Lithuanian

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President Rolandas Paksas visited Estonia in April to participate in the meeting of Baltic Presidents in . In September, Prime Minister Juhan Parts visited Lithuania to dis- cuss common activities to better prepare for EU accession. In September, a meeting of the Prime Ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Poland took place in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius to discuss the development of a common energy market and transport infrastructure.

Regarding economic and trade relations, Lithuania remains one of the most interesting markets for Estonian business. Reciprocal investments in each other’s economies are of considerable size and Estonia is Lithuania’s third largest foreign investor after Denmark and Sweden.

In bilateral relations with HUNGARY, the only high-level visit of 2003 was that of the speaker of the Hungarian Parliament Katalin Szili in June. Regular political consultations were continued between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs in Tallinn by delegations led by the Deputy Under-Secretaries for Political Affairs. Meetings on NATO enlargement and on the impact of EU enlargement on trade were also held in Tallinn at the level of the respective Deputy Under-Secretaries.

Being the largest country of the region, POLAND is also Estonia’s largest trade partner in Central Europe. Contacts between the countries were traditionally active during 2003. Among a number of high-level visits, the most important was Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland’s visit. The visit focused on EU enlargement, but also touched on bilateral rela- tions, regional co-operation and infrastructure issues. Working level meetings and con- sultations between the officials of the Foreign and Defence ministries continued as usual.

As for economic relations, Estonia’s trade balance with Poland remained negative last year. The general development trend is positive and the deficit in trade with Poland is decreasing.

In relations with the CZECH REPUBLIC, a historic event took place from October 19-21 when Prime Minister Juhan Parts made the first ever official visit of an Estonian Head of Government to this country. At the meetings, which took place in a friendly atmosphere, it was noted with satisfaction that the relations between the two countries could be eval- uated as excellent. However, the development of trade relations left a great deal to be desired.

Beside the Prime Minister’s visit, the official visit of the Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda and the bilateral political consultations between the foreign ministries deserve mention.

In 2003, relations between Estonia and the SLOVAK REPUBLIC began to gradually acquire the nature of true bilateral relations. From October 21-22, Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland became the first Estonian Foreign Minister ever to pay an official visit to Slovakia. During the visit the discussions dealt with a wide range of issues, from bilat- eral relations to EU-related questions. The Foreign Ministers of the two countries also signed an agreement on the evasion of double taxation, which is expected to give a pos- itive impulse to the development of economic relations between the two countries.

From November 27-28, the Speaker of the Slovak Parliament Pavel Hrusˇovsky visited Estonia. During the meetings of the parliamentary leaders of Slovakia and Estonia, a common understanding of the role of the national parliaments in the EU was reached.

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Parallel to the meetings at the highest levels, regular political consultations between the foreign ministries were also held in Tallinn in May 2003.

Relations between Estonia and developed along the traditional lines in 2003 that have been in place for more than a decade. Estonia, on its part, has endeavoured to pursue a policy based on a good-neighbourly, constructive attitude, promoting a mutu- ally profitable approach and observing the norms of international law. A rapid positive development in bilateral relations requires political will and a considerate approach to each other’s interests and concerns.

Regular meetings have taken place within the framework of the bilateral round table for economic co-operation. In February, the then Estonian Minister of Economy, Liina Tõnisson, and the then Russian Vice-Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko met. Short meetings between Presidents and Foreign Ministers of the two countries have also taken place in connection with different international forums.

Estonia on its part proceeds from the universally accepted rules of international law and has pursued a policy of being open to all the positive initiatives from its neighbours. Thus, Estonia welcomes the growing co-operation between Russia and NATO, and Russia and the EU. This co-operation will hopefully develop the relations between Estonia and its neighbour.

At the same time, the development of relations between Estonia and Russia is continu- ously hindered by Russia’s refusal to sign the border treaty between the two countries, which in fact cannot be interpreted as anything other than a refusal to recognize Estonia as a sovereign nation.

Parallel to the refusal to sign and ratify the border agreement, Russia has persistently rejected offers made by Estonia to introduce a trade regime between the two countries that would correspond to the current world and European practice, i.e. the mutual appli- cation of the MFN status. Owing to the Russian leadership’s continued negative trade policy, Estonia’s trade balance with Russia remained negative also in 2003.

Estonia is open to co-operation with Russia, within the limitations set by its foreign pol- icy priorities. Estonia is deeply interested in Russia’s development towards a strong, democratic and stable nation, and supports and welcomes all developments leading to further the democratic environment in Russia.

Contacts in the field of culture in 2003 continued to be warm and lively. The good rela- tions were exemplified by numerous visits by artists, musicians, dancers, filmmakers and friends of culture. Nonetheless, no progress was made in the question of the return of valuable Estonian culture objects, which were taken to Russia during the Soviet occu- pation of Estonia beginning in 1940.

Today there are about 40 000 Estonians living in Russia, which constitute the largest Estonian community abroad. The main locations of Estonian population are Moscow, St. Petersburg and Siberia. The largest Estonian community in Russia, about 5 000 people, is in Krasnoyarsk krai, Siberia. The Estonian Ministry of Education and Research sup- ports, among other things, the work of the only Estonian high school in Russia in the town of Pechory (Petseri in Estonian). Pechory lies close to the Estonian border. Estonia also supplies textbooks and other materials to schools in Russia and other CIS countries with considerable numbers of students with Estonian heritage.

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Relations with have been strong and active ever since the restoration of Estonia’s independence. In 2003, high level political dialogue continued between the two countries: Estonia hosted the Ukrainian Minister of Defence, Yevhen Marchuk and the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Myhailo Papiyev. The Chairman of the Estonian parliament (the ) Ene Ergma and the Minister of Population and Ethnic Affairs, Paul-Erik Rummo paid visits to Ukraine. The Minister of the Environment, Villu Reiljan participated in an international environment conference held in Kiev.

The Ukraine was Estonia’s seventh largest trade partner last year, the total trade turnover was approximately 3,65 billion Estonian kroons. The trade balance was significantly neg- ative for Estonia, owing to extensive imports of vehicles from the Ukraine. As for mutu- al investments, Estonian investments into the Ukraine at the end of September 2003 amounted to roughly 195 million kroons, which represents 1,6 per cent of all Estonian foreign, capital investments. Ukrainian investments in Estonia continue to be of an insignificant size.

Last year a number of international development co-operation projects were success- fully conducted. Within the framework of the joint programme CUBEMTP, a joint co- operation programme with , Ukraine and the Baltic States as its members, sev- eral groups of Ukrainian civil servants visited Estonia for training. With assistance from the officials of the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, a WTO seminar was held for Ukrainian experts and the Estonian School of Diplomacy carried out a two week training programme on EU and NATO related matters for junior Ukrainian diplomats.

During the past years, direct contacts have been set up between several educational insti- tutions. Co-operation occurs between the Ukrainian Diplomatic Academy and the Estoni- an School of Diplomacy and also between the technical universities of Tallinn and Kiev.

The most prominent symbolic cultural event in the relations between the countries was no doubt the issuing of a common postage stamp, which was released simultaneously in Kiev and Tallinn. The stamp shows the ancient trade route from the Bay of Finland along the Dniepr River down to Constantinople, which was once used by the Vikings.

Thanks to its status as a EU candidate nation, Estonia has been receiving a great deal interest from the Ukrainian media. In 2003, several groups of Ukrainian journalists vis- ited Estonia and a relatively large number of articles and reports of Estonia reached the Ukrainian public.

Asia, Africa, Latin-America, and Oceania In connection with the signing of the Accession Treaty, Estonia began to participate as an observer in EU work groups and in EU co-operation projects with third party states. The new situation meant a far better access to information on countries in Asia, Africa, Latin-America, Australia and Oceania. At the same, it poses new challenges to our capa- bilities.

In 2003, Estonia began to participate in EUROMED co-operation, also called the Barcelona Process. Estonia participated last year in two EUROMED ministerial meetings . For Estonia, it is important that co-operation through EUROMED programmes smaller countries like Estonia will be given good opportunities for developing bilateral contacts with the countries of North Africa and the Middle East. It is also clear that by supporting

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democratic development and stability in these regions, Europe also strengthens its own security. As a member state of the European Union, Estonia will have to pay much more attention to the problems of the Middle East and North Africa.

In June 2003, the 3rd round of political consultations with a delegation from the ISRAELI Ministry of Foreign Affairs was held in Tallinn.

The most prominent event in Estonia’s bilateral contacts with the countries of North Africa was the visit of Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland to MOROCCO. This visit can be viewed as an opening move from Estonia’s side to establishing contacts with African countries. During the visit, numerous high level meetings took place and a protocol of co-operation between the Foreign Ministries was signed.

Estonia was one of the undersigned on the joint letter composed by the three Nordic countries and the three Baltic countries in June 2003, on the initiative of the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, sent to the High Representative of the EU, Javier Solana, regarding the need to intensify relations between the European Union and the Arab world. At the European Union Summit , the High Representative Javier Solana presented his plan for strengthening co-operation between EU and Arab countries.

One of the highlights of Estonia’s relations with ASIAN countries in 2003 was the official visit of the President of MONGOLIA, Natsag Bagabandi, in June. This was the first visit of the Mongolian President to Estonia. During the visit, meetings with President Arnold Rüütel and Prime Minister Juhan Parts took place. Beside international politics in gen- eral, perspectives for the development of bilateral relations in various fields were dis- cussed.

In relations with INDIA the visit of the State Minister for External Affairs, Digvijay Singh in November was undoubtedly the most prominent event of the year. During the meet- ings in Tallinn, it was stated that bilateral relations are most active in the fields of culture and education. India is active in offering training in information technology and at the same time the number of Indian students studying in Estonia has grown steadily. Economic relations are rather modest and hopefully they will receive a boost from the planned visit of the Vice-President of India in the spring of 2004.

In November 2003, the 5th session of the Estonian-Chinese joint commission took place in Beijing. The delegations discussed bilateral trade, economic relations and amended the bilateral agreement on trade and economic co-operation in view of Estonia’s upcom- ing accession to the European Union. The official Estonian delegation was accompanied by a business delegation.

In December, political consultations between Estonia and the PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA took place. Alongside bilateral relations, international problems like the North Korea nuclear crisis and the situation in Central Asia were dealt with.

2003 also saw the first ever political consultations with JAPAN. Both parties noted that as there were no problems in political bilateral relations, it was the economic and cultural relations that ought to be prioritised. There is room for development in the field of tourism and considering Japan’s economic potential, Japanese investments in Estonian economy have very good prospects. Both parties expressed their interest in the exchange of high level visits.

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As a future member state of the EU, Estonia applied in November for membership in ASEM (Asia-Europe meeting) and is looking forward to receiving an invitation to join ASEM in October 2004, when the next summit of the organisation takes place in Hanoi. Membership in ASEM would open up greater possibilities for multilateral co-operation between Asia and the EU. Estonia sees good potential in developing relations with ASEAN within the framework of co-operation between the EU and ASEAN.

Estonia’s relations with the LATIN-AMERICAN countries are very limited, which is only natural considering Estonia’s size and the distances separating the two regions. During the past year Estonia has taken steps toward enlivening its relations with South America. In 2003, an agreement on the abolition of visas was signed with Argentina. In previous years, the same kind of agreements had been signed with Chile and Costa Rica.

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