President Lennart Meri and Mrs. Helle Meri today began their three-day state visit to the Republic of Iceland.

The President of Iceland Olafur Ragnar Grimsson received the Estonian presidential couple and delegation in his residence in Bessastadir. On the official ceremony the national anthems were played, and as Iceland does not have defence forces, elementary school children greeted the Estonian President on the welcoming ceremony.

On the Presidents tete-a-tete meeting, Meri and Grimsson discussed the changes in the world, and especially in Europe, during the last ten years. On the press conference after the meeting, the President of Iceland said that they are glad to receive the Estonian President who has, in Iceland, participated in the monument-deserving events that led to the restoration of the Estonian independence and made possible the peaceful development of the democracy, politics and economy in the Baltic countries, especially when compared to the situation of South-Eastern Europe.

The President of Iceland considered it very important to develop the co-operation between the five Nordic Countries and the three Baltic States.

The President of Iceland also thanked the Estonian President for bringing to Iceland an outstanding delegation of businessmen.

President Meri emphasised that Iceland should not underestimate her contribution to the process of restoration of the independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and to the changes in the former Soviet Union, and thus also to the birth of modern Europe. As President Meri said, Estonia will never forget small and proud Iceland's role in all this.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, September 14, 1999

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