President Lennart Meri met Jan Eliasson, the Secretary-General of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kadriorg today. The current political and economic situation in Russia was the main subject of discussion. Jan Eliasson expressed his concern with the developments in Chechnya. As he said, Sweden has no illusions about Russia, is aware of the involved risks and prepared for both optimistic and pessimistic developments.

Also the North Dimension of the European Union was discussed, and President Meri was interested whether Sweden could share the experience of life and development of economy in arctic circumstances in order to enhance the development of, for instance, the Kola Peninsula. Jan Eliasson admitted that Sweden, that had been one of the outskirts of Europe during the cold war, could probably promote the development of the EU North Dimension with this kind of advice.

As Jan Eliasson said, an important conclusion can be drawn from the cold war: the strength of a state is not only determined by its military capacity, but also by the situation in its economy, environment protection, and social sphere.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, November 25, 1999

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