President of the Republic delivered an academic lecture at the St. Olaf College yesterday; the lecture was followed by a discussion on Estonia. Olaf Millert, Professor Emeritus of psychology at the St. Olaf College, proposed to create a scholarship to enable the students of St. Olaf College to study in Estonia, and made also the first donation to the scholarship fund. Pesident of the Republic was grateful to hear that the scholarship is going to be named the Lennart Meri Scholarship.

Yesterday, President of the Republic also met the Estonians living in and near Minneapolis, who handed over to him the volume of ''Estonians in Minnesota, 1949-1999''. President Meri recalled that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the US non-recognition policy of the Soviet occupation of Estonia. As President Meri said, also the American Estonians had their role to play in this policy and this also contributed to the restoration of the Estonian independence. About fifty Estonians living or studying in there participated in the meeting.

Today, President Meri will be meeting the representatives of North State Power and NRG Energy; and Jesse Ventura, the Governor of Minnesota, will pay a visit to President Meri.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, April 7, 2000

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