President Lennart Meri today received Svend Roed Nielsen, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Denmark to the Republic of Estonia, who came to pay his farewell visit in connection with the end of his term as Ambassador to Estonia, in the presidential palace of Kadriorg today.

President Lennart Meri thanked Ambassador Nielsen for his contribution both as Ambassador and as a citizen to the development of the relations between Estonia and Denmark; the President mentioned the support to the building-up of the Estonian defence forces, the training of Estonian public servants, support to Estonia's movement towards the European Union and NATO, as well as many cultural projects.

For his services to the Republic of Estonia, President of the Republic conferred the I Class Order of the Cross of St Mary's Land to Svend Roed Nielsen, Ambassador of Denmark to Estonia

Accepting the decoration, the Ambassador said that for him, the work in Estonia has been of great importance; he has seen great progress in the development of Estonia, and that today, only their own country, Denmark, is more important than Estonia for himself and his spouse. As the Ambassador said, he envies his successor to the post of Ambassador, who will be able to see Estonia's success on the EU-negotiations, and probably also the accession to EU, and the progress of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Also the needs and possibilities for the creation of a Baltic Sea energy network were discussed on the farewell visit.

As Ambassador Nielsen said, the Estonian community of his new working country Canada will certainly help him to retain his ties to Estonia; he also promised to visit Estonia in the future.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, March 15, 2000

back | archive of press releases | main page