President Lennart Meri and Mrs. Helle Meri received Ferenc Mádl, the President of the Republic of Hungary, who had arrived on a state visit to Estonia, on the official welcoming ceremony in front of the Kadriorg Palace this afternoon. The company of the guard of honour was lined up, and the national anthems of the two countries were played.

On the meeting of the Presidents bilateral relations between the two countries, which both Presidents considered to be excellent, were discussed, as well as the common wish to accede to the European Union as soon as possible, and also accession to NATO, which, as President Mádl said, has been a very important basis of democracy for Hungary; President Meri added that in order to accede to NATO, Estonia has developed her defence forces and increased the state budget. The President of Hungary confirmed the firm support to Estonia's accession to NATO.

The Hungarian President pointed out that although there are no regular rail or air connections between Estonia and Hungary today, the relations have been close, and the Prime Ministers as well as other Ministers have had several meetings. As to the sphere of economy, Estonia's export to Hungary is greater than Hungary's export to Estonia, but relations are important also in this sphere. The bilateral agreements are based on free trade agreement. The two Presidents also talked about gene technology projects.

Also the fate of Finno-Ugric peoples was discussed on the meeting, as well as the Congress held in Helsinki. As President Meri said, we must not limit ourselves to the romantic trilateral co-operation between the Finno-Ugric countries; in addition to mutual exchange of experiences, both Estonia and Hungary must develop bilateral relations with the Republic of Finland, their brave supporter in the European Union.

In the evening, President Lennart Meri and Mrs. Helle Meri hosted a dinner at the House of Blackheads in honour of the Hungarian President Ferenc Mádl. On Wednesday, the Estonian President and the Hungarian President will be in Tartu, where they will visit the Town Hall, the Estonian National Museum, and Tartu University.


Estonia, Hungary praise EU enlargement plans
TALLINN, Dec 14 (AFP) - The presidents of Estonia and Hungary expressed optimism Thursday about their chances of early admission to the European UnionU following this week's EU summit in Nice.

"Although the institutional reform of the EU has not had too much success, we did receive good news from Nice regarding the enlargement," Hungarian President Ferenc Madl told a news conference in Tallin, held at the end of his state visit to Estonia.

Madl said Hungary and Estonia -- both in the first group of candidate countries to the EU -- would have to share more experience about their accession efforts.

Estonian president Lennart Meri said that while the EU had not come to a common position on how to arrange ''the inner workings'' of the union, the decisions regarding enlargement were welcome.

''The EU is viable only on condition that it sets continuous enlargement as its aim, just as life does,'' Meri said.

''It was good that at this summit, the EU countries listened to the candidates, too - and it gave a pretty good result.''

The two presidents said their countries had fruitfully worked together diplomatically before and during the EU summit, and will continue to do so.

Madl said Estonian and Hungarian officials signed a cooperation agreeement on higher education, designed to promote the intensification of the studies of each other's language and culture.

The two presidents started their working meetings in Helsinki at the start of the week, at the World Finno-Ugric Congress.

''The three independent Finno-Ugric nations - Finland, Hungary and Estonia - should do all they can keep the Finno-Ugric identity and support the Finno-Ugric peoples that do not have their own states,'' Madl said.

''A lot of solidarity and material assistance is needed to help the Finno-Ugric peoples in the Russian Federation with textbooks, media and language studies.''

Madl added there is an ''ardent wish'' on behalf of the Finno-Ugric peoples to maintain their culture but they lack the resources.

The next world congress of the Finno-Ugric peoples will be held in 2004 in Estonia.

/end text/


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, December 12, 2000

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