President Lennart Meri received Ortwin Runde, Mayor of Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, in Kadriorg this morning.

On the meeting, the Estonian President and the Mayor of Hamburg discussed the crisis that originated from South-East Asia and Russia and has more than merely financial qualities, and were pleased to observe that the conditions in Estonia have remained stable. President Meri expressed his hope that the proportion of German investments to Estonia would soon reach the level appropriate to Germany. As Ortwin Runde said, he was once more convinced that there is no reason to view Estonia as a country distant and alien to Germany.

Analyzing relations between Germany and Estonia, Ortwin Runde expressed his opinion that Germany's attitude towards the Northern Dimension of Europe would change as soon as the German capital moved from Bonn to Berlin, and that this would, via Denmark, Sweden and Finland, also be relevant for Estonia.

President Meri said that, as the Mediterranean of the North, the Baltic Sea has for a long time served as a common cultural space. If we delve deeper into the past, Ortwin Runde said, examples to be followed today could be found already from the Hanseatic times, the 13th – 15th century already.

The President also asked Ortwin Runde, the Mayor of Hamburg and a member of the SDP, to forward to Gerhard Schröder, who is soon to assume the post of the Federal Chancellor of Germany, his proposal to consider the prospect of a visit to Estonia.

The meeting was followed by a joint Press Conference.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg,October 6, 1998

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