This morning in the President Castle at Kadriorg, President Lennart Meri had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Sweden, with whom mutual co-operation between the two countries, extension of the European Union and relations with NATO, Russia and the USA were spoken about.

According to President Meri, Estonia is working hard for the accession to the EU and NATO and he thanked the head of the Swedish government for the great support provided by the state of Sweden up to now to building up the Estonian armed forces and also for the further support to the training of officers. According to Persson, the two countries have good co-operation in the field of defence, particularly in the framework of the Partnership for Peace Programme.

According to Göran Persson, Sweden has no reason to believe that the European Union may not follow its principle adopted at the Helsinki meeting that the accession will proceed according to the preparedness of each country. He stated that the extension cannot be stopped any more, as the applicant countries have been given precise requirements to fulfil. The speech of the Foreign Minister of Germany Joschka Fischer was also talked about at the meeting and considered as a good start for a debate on the events that will take place in 15-20 years.

According to the Prime Minister Persson he was also very glad to visit the Kadriorg Castle before the meeting with the President. The castle had been restored with the support of the state of Sweden and he expressed his opinion that such co-operation should continue.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, May 24, 2000

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