President of the Republic, who is on a visit in Washington, had a meeting with the U.S. State Secretary Madeleine Albright. On the cordial meeting, mostly the forthcoming NATO summit and the situation in Russia were discussed.

President of the Republic emphasised that the NATO summit must give the Baltic States a clear signal of the continuation of the enlargement process of the Alliance. State Secretary Albright confirmed that the summit resolutions would go further than those of the Madrid declaration. She was also pleased to observe that in Estonia, consensus has been reached as concerns defence expenditure, as Estonia’s defence expenditure has so far been lower than that of the new NATO members the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary.

At the end of the meeting, State Secretary Albright was glad to accept the President’s invitation to visit Estonia.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, March 15, 1999

back | archive of press releases | main page