President Lennart Meri received Kumiharu Shigehara, the Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD, in Kadriorg today.

President expressed to Kumiharu Shigehara his gratitude for the Baltic regional programme launched by the OECD. According to Shigehara, the objective of the programme as seen by OECD is to help the Baltic States to integrate not only on regional level but also into the world economy as a whole. This is why the OECD members situated farther from the Baltic States, like the USA and Japan, are supporting the Baltic regional programme.

The survey of the economy of the three Baltic States, which is currently composed by the OECD Secretariat, is an important part of the co-operation within the programme. Such surveys have a very high prestige in the world, as they are considered neutral and objective. Shigehara emphasised that after the completion of the survey, the Baltic States are expected to comment and discuss it.

It was also pointed out on the meeting that the programme can only succeed if the Baltic States show sufficient interest; the programme also requires efficient co-ordination and co-operation between the Baltic States. The Nordic Countries have also given their strong support to regional programmes.

The current general strategy of the OECD includes the extension of co-operation programmes with non-member countries. At the moment, the inclusion of new members is not considered, this is so both for budgetary reasons and in order to maintain efficiency, which is a top priority issue for the OECD.

On the meeting, the Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD and the Estonian Head of State also discussed the situation in Russia.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, October 19, 1998

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