President Lennart Meri had a meeting with Stavros Soumakis, the Greek Minister of Merchant Fleet in Piraeus on his Attica tour today, and discussed the wage policies of the EU fleet.

On the meeting President Meri, the Foreign Minister Toomas Henrik Ilves, and Endel Siff, Chairman of the Board of the N-Terminaal company, gave the Greek Minister and the leaders of the Port of Piraeus a brief survey of the Port of Tallinn and other ports of Estonia, as Estonia is an important crossroads of maritime and land logistics. Minister Soumakis welcomed Estonia's accession to the European Union, as this would facilitate the development of the relations between the two countries.

From Piraeus, the Estonian President returned to Athens, where he had a meeting with His Excellency Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who was on a visit to Athens, and discussed the role in the Estonian society of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church, which is subordinate to the Patriarch.

The Ecumenical Patriarch is concerned with the future of the Orthodox Church in Estonia, and considers it important for the church to bring in young educated people. The President emphasised that in addition to the history of the Lutheran and Catholic Church, also the history of the Orthodox Church in Estonia should be studied; Patriarch Bartholomew and the Metropolitans John and Meliton who were present on the meeting were prepared to find a scholarship for an Estonian researcher of the history of the Orthodox Church. It would be
important for the church not to mean liturgy alone, but to have a more significant role in society, President Meri emphasised. As the President said, the problem is that the church speaks in too low a voice in Estonia. The President also welcomed the convention of the Synod of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church on the coming month.

Today, President Meri also had a meeting with Dimitris Avramopoulus, the Mayor of Athens. The Mayor conferred the Gold Medal of Merit of the City of Athens to the Estonian Head of State as the representative of the friendly Estonian nation and a wise European politician.

In his speech held at the City Hall of Athens, President Meri said that the Gold Medal of Merit denotes the respect for both the heritage of the Ancient Greece and the success of the Greece of today.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, May 24, 1999

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