President Lennart Meri received Sarah Squire, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Republic of Estonia, who presented her credentials from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, in Kadriorg today.

Ambassador Squire, who had arrived at the port of Tallinn by sea, called it the living remainder of the complex cultural, economic and security relationships which have bound Estonia to the wider world for more than a thousand years. The Baltic Sea is a symbol of Estonia's longstanding links not only with the Baltic neighbours, but also with the ports of Eastern England and Scotland, where the Ambassador's own family has come from. Great Britain, a country of old traditions, has for the past ten years followed the fast development of economic environment and society in Estonia, and the Ambassador promised to deepen the co-operation between the two countries even further. In her speech when presenting the credentials, which was partly held in Estonian, Sarah Squire also lauded the cultural co-operation within the last decade, and said that the new British Embassy building, one of Britain's finest, is a symbol of Britain's confidence in Estonia's future.

President Meri expressed his hope that both Estonia and Great Britain have learned from mistakes made before World War II, and know how important it is for states to keep up close mutual relations. The President hopes that Estonians will improve their knowledge of the British culture and history, and that also in Great Britain the knowledge of Estonian history and culture would deepen.

Also the enlargement of European Union was discussed on the meeting, as well as the British Prime Minister Tony Blair's and Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson's common opinion article in ''Financial Times'', where they call the European Union to speed up the preparations for the Union’s forthcoming enlargement.

On the meeting, the President told Ambassador Squire of his working visit to the Viru County and the opportunities of North-East Estonia. Ambassador Squire also presented to President Meri three volumes of copies of the British Foreign Office archive records from 1939-1940, which tell about relations to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, September 28, 2000

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