This afternoon President Lennart Meri leaves for an official visit to Brussels, where the Prize of Freedom for the year 1999 of the Liberal International will be handed over to him on the 49th Congress of the Liberal International on Thursday, March 4.

In Brussels, the President is also going to meet Jacques Santer, President of the European Commission, and Ambassadors of the NATO Member States.

The Prize of Freedom is a glass sculpture, and has been issued by the Liberal International since 1985. Fritz Bolkestein, President of the Liberal International, informed President Meri in his letter of July 1998 that the prize was going to be awarded to him. The prize awarding ceremony will be followed by the reception in honour of the Estonian Head of State hosted by the European Parliament, where the liberal party leaders of the world will participate.

President Meri will arrive back in Tallinn on Friday afternoon.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, March 3, 1999

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