President Lennart Meri received Mikhail A. Marinch, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Byelorussia, who came to present his credentials, in Kadriorg today.

As the Byelorussian Ambassador said, there are no major problems in the relations between Estonia and Byelorussia. The Ambassador considers his main task in fostering economic and cultural relations between two countries to be the establishment of a solid basis of agreements.

President Meri said that Estonia is interested in having normal relationships between Byelorussia and all three Baltic States.

On the meeting of the President and the Ambassador, Byelorussia's economic relations with Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and other well-developed countries were discussed. The Ambassador said that currently there are 14 Estonian-Byelorussian joint ventures and eleven enterprises owned by the Estonian capital in Byelorussia.

President Meri was also interested in the role of the Byelorussian language and Byelorussian schools in Byelorussia. When the President asked whether the widespread opinion that the reforms in Byelorussia have lost momentum and stayed on the level of 1992-93 was justified, the Ambassador assured him that the reforms are continuing.

As the Byelorussian Ambassador said, he is glad that there are six Byelorussian culture societies in Estonia, and that the Byelorussian culture society in Jõhvi has already celebrated its tenth anniversary.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, March 18, 1999

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