President Lennart Meri today had a meeting with Martti Ahtisaari, President of the Republic of Finland, in the National Library. The two Presidents mostly discussed the situation in Chechnya. Ahtisaari spoke to the Estonian Head of State of his meetings with Vladimir Putin, in Helsinki and in Oslo, and spoke also of the Finnish Foreign Minister Tarja Halonen's visit to Ingushetia, where she had surveyed the situation of the refugees. President Ahtisaari expressed his conviction that the international community and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe must have access to Chechnya and Ingushetia.

As President Meri said, in his opinion OSCE has not been sufficiently active as concerns the Chechnya conflict. Both Presidents agreed that arms could not be the final solution to the problem.

On the meeting, also Estonia's accession to the European Union was discussed. The Finnish President agreed to the statement that a strong system of civil servants is necessary so that the passed laws could also be implemented. On the other hand, Ahtisaari said that proceeding from the Finnish experience, accession to the EU gives the state a good motive and impetus for carrying through the necessary reforms.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, November 5, 1999

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