Today at noon President Lennart Meri delivered an address in Klaipeda at the closing ceremony of the major military exercise Baltic Challenge; President Meri congratulated the organizers of the successful exercise and emphasised that no country is too small and no nation too far away to participate in the enlargement of NATO. In his speech, President Meri also spoke of Estonia's readiness to participate in the fulfilment of other tasks under Article 4 of the NATO Statutes besides the peacekeeping operations. The full text of the address can be found on the Internet address www.president.ee.

After the closing ceremony of Baltic Challenge a meeting between the Estonian President Lennart Meri, the Latvian President Guntis Ulmanis, the Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and the Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski took place in Klaipeda, where the Presidents exchanged information concerning the positions of the NATO Partner States on the enlargement of NATO and the preparations for next year's NATO Summit in Washington. The Presidents discussed the need to form a common position of the Baltic States for the 1999 Summit, and it was agreed to hold a special meeting this autumn in order to discuss the matter.

President Kwasniewski stressed that Poland understands her responsibility to the Baltic States and other countries applying for the NATO membership and promised to act as spokesman. President Meri emphasised that the NATO open doors rhetoric could not mean that the doors stay open forever. He also stressed the need of the Baltic States to join their resources in order to explain their positions to the Partner States.

On the Meeting, the four Heads of State emphasised the necessity of establishing positive relations with Russia.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, July 25, 1998

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