On President Lennart Meri’s invitation, Moritz Leuenberger, the President of the Swiss Confederation, will pay a two-day official visit to Estonia on July 19-20.

In addition to the official meeting of the two Presidents taking place in the presidential palace of Kadriorg, President Leuenberger will have a meeting with Tunne Kelam, Vice-Chairman of the Riigikogu, and Prime Minister Mart Laar. On July 19, the President of Switzerland will reopen the Swiss reading room in the Estonian National Library; he will also pay a visit to the Kadriorg Art Museum, to Toompea and the Old Town.

The Swiss Head of State also plans to have a cruise in the Tallinn Bay, after which President Lennart Meri and Mrs. Helle Meri will host a dinner in his honour at their Viimsi home.

The Swiss President will leave Estonia in the morning of July 20.

The Swiss President’s official visit was agreed at the time when President Lennart Meri and President Moritz Leuenberger met in Zurich during the Estonian President’s official visit to Switzerland in May, when President Lennart Meri delivered a presentation “The Role of Small Countries in the Cultural Space of Europe” at the St. Gallen University.

On his visit, the Swiss President will be accompanied by Hansrudolf Hoffmann, the Swiss Ambassador to Estonia, and Matti Klaar, the Honorary Consul of Switzerland in Estonia, as well as the Estonian Ambassador to Switzerland Mare Laanemäe.

Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, July 16, 2001

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