A large crowd of townspeople had gathered to the main square of Kehra to welcome President Lennart Meri. Jüri Lillsoo, the Mayor of Kehra, took the President to a visit to the new local boiler house and the Kehra railway station, where the Staff of the 1st division of the Estonian National Army was situated in 1919. The President also visited the Kehra kindergarten, listened to the singing of Estonian and Russian children and had a look at the Kaunissaare artificial lake.
President Meri also visited the Kehra Secondary School and, in his entry to the school's guestbook, wished the schoolmasters and the students a lot of love for their school, their town and their neighbouring counties. ''Cherish the beautiful green wreath surrounding Kehra,'' the President advised.
The school's assembly hall was crowded with the people from Kehra and Anija County; and the President spoke of cleanliness, emphasizing that it was our common task to keep Estonia clean. ''The cleaning of Estonia starts from home,'' the President said, ''and first and foremost from the soul.'' The President also reminded those present that before the war the phrase ''Kehra papp'' (Kehra cardboard) had a definite meaning for every Estonian. Every piece of work done in Estonia today should, as the President said, bear results as lasting as the Kehra cardboard.
President Meri also visited Kehra's major industrial enterprise and main employer, the Horizon Paper Mill belonging to Tolaram Group. He also reminded those who had gathered to the opening ceremony of the new tissue conversion plant, of Kehra's message to pre-war Estonia. ''Kehra had a definite message, and this message was quality.''
As the President said, many authors including Anton Hansen Tammsaare have depicted Estonians as a country people. ''This is true,'' the President said, ''for who dares to contest Tammsaare – and yet it is not, because in a peculiar way we have always been very open to technology.''
The President appreciated the words of Mohan Vaswani, Chairman of the Tolaram Group, that the HORIZON plant is dedicated to the people of Kehra and to Estonia. The President opened the new tissue conversion plant and split a coconut – according to the Singaporean tradition this should bring success to the plant.

back | archive of press releases | main page