Today, on December 11, President Lennart Meri is in Finland, where the President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen, the President of the Republic of Hungary Ferenc Mádl, and President Lennart Meri opened the III World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples this morning. At the Congress, President Lennart Meri also held a speech; the text of the speech is available on the President's homepage at the Internet address www.president.ee.

In the afternoon, the President will meet the representatives of the chairs of the Estonian language studies of Finnish universities at the Embassy of the Republic of Estonia in Helsinki and, as the Patron of the Year of Estonian Book, hand over to the chairs a gift from the Central Committee of the Year of Estonian Book – a selection of Estonian books. The President will be back in Tallinn late this evening.

On Tuesday, December 12, at 1:00 PM, the President will attend the presentation of ''The Black Book of Communism'' by Stephane Courtois at the Tallinn Town Hall, where also the author of the book will be present.

Tomorrow at 2:30 PM, the official welcoming ceremony of the state visit of the Hungarian President Ferenc Mádl will take place at Kadriorg; the ceremony will be followed by political talks. In the evening, President Lennart Meri and Mrs. Helle Meri will host a dinner in honour of the Hungarian Head of State at the House of Blackheads in Tallinn.

On Wednesday, the President of Estonia and the President of Hungary will be in Tartu; they will visit the Town Hall and Tartu University, where the two Presidents will participate in academic roundtable. On the third day of his state visit, President Mádl will meet the municipal leaders of Tallinn and have a tour of the Old Town. The Hungarian and Estonian President will give a joint press conference.

On Thursday at 4:00 PM, President Meri will be in the National Library, where the publishing house Ilmamaa presents Leo Metsar’s Estonian translation of Andreas Oplatka's book ''Lennart Meri – a Life Lived for Estonia'' that was published last year.

Thursday evening, President Meri will travel to Riga, where the traditional meeting of the Presidents of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will take place on Friday.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, December 11, 2000

back | archive of press releases | main page