On March 7-8, President Lennart Meri was on a visit to Macau Special Administrative Region, where he was received by Edward Ho, the governmental leader of the Special Administrative Area, and Dr. Liu Chak-Wan, the Honorary Consul of Estonia. The President of the Republic of Estonia was the first Head of State to visit Macau after its union with China, and the symbolic value of the visit was emphasised on all meetings.

On the meeting with Edward Ho, Chairman of the Macau Special Administrative Area, President Meri discussed co-operation possibilities for Estonia and Macau, especially in the fields of tourism, trade, information technology, and telecommunications. Edward Ho was interested in Estonia’s experience in opening up the telecommunications market. President Meri considered it important for developing co-operation to reduce the time consumed by trade exchange between Estonia and Southern China. He recommended that the businessmen of Macau should use Estonian ports as an objective of trade exchange.

Quite like Estonia, Macau also sees itself as a centre of a major market region, and this is a good basis for co-operation. As a future EU member state, and with 70% of export already now going to the EU, Estonia is an interesting partner for Macau, the governmental leader of Macau said. He added that the people of Macau would be glad to see Estonia accede to the European Union, as this would mean one more friend in the EU for Macau.

President Lennart Meri invited Edward Ho on a visit to Estonia, and the governmental leader of Macau accepted the invitation. Edward Ho hosted a dinner in honour of the Estonian Head of State.

This afternoon, the President is on his way to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, where he will be received by Tung Chee Hwa, the governmental leader of the Special Administrative Region, and also meet the Honorary Consul of Estonia Jeffrey Lam Kin Fung. Tomorrow, President Lennart Meri and Signe Ratso, Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, will speak of the opportunities of Estonian economy on a business lunch in the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce, and a visit to the port of Hong Kong will also take place.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, March 8, 2001

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