President Lennart Meri received José Olympio Rache de Almeida, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federative Republic of Brazil to the Republic of Estonia, who came to present his credentials, in Kadriorg today.

The Ambassador said that Brazil knows Estonia as the country whose trademark has been its fight for freedom, a pattern to those for whom justice and respect for the rights of man are paramount. He also pointed out that on the threshold of the third millennium, the relations between Estonia and Brazil still have room for development, and promised right away to start building up a solid and lasting co-operation.

As the Ambassador said, it is first and foremost necessary to support the young people, and that Brazil i9s ready to welcome a young Estonian diplomat in the Rio Branco, the Brazilian Diplomatic Academy, and that also other Brazilian universities would welcome students from Estonia.

Next year, Brazil is going to celebrate 500 years from the time when the Portuguese sailors reached the coast of Brazil, and hoped that future would bring Estonia and Brazil closer together, and that the relations between the two countries – in Brazil, in Tallinn and at the United Nations – would play their part for the betterment of this world of ours.

As President Meri said, Estonia considers it very important that an Ambassador of a major South American country has assumed his duties in Estonia. As he said, there is no need to be so pessimistic about the past relations between the two countries, even though Brazil is 40th on Estonia’s list of trade partners.

The President also thanked Brazil for providing a home for Estonians, many of whom fled from their occupied home country in the nineteen forties.

On the meeting of the President and the Ambassador, also the economic situation of Brazil was discussed, and according to the Ambassador, Brazilian economy is going uphill again. Ambassador Rache de Almeida expressed his pleasure that the South American free trade organisation Mercosul, that Brazil is party of and the European Union would soon organise a joint summit.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, April 29, 1999

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