On the press conference e today, President Lennart Meri once more cordially thanked Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of the Republic of Iceland who is on a State Visit in the Republic of Estonia, for Iceland's support to Estonia in 1991. As President Meri said, we cannot tell the course which the Estonian history would have taken, had we not started so rapidly the restoration of diplomatic relations with other countries.
As President Grimsson said, history is a mosaic of small states, and so he, as a representative of a small state was here to pay his respects to another small state and to further encourage the co-operation between small states, also the Nordic Countries and the Baltic States, as regional organisations are becoming more and more important and influential in the present day.
Grimsson reminded that the Foreign Minister of Iceland was the first representative of the NATO Member States to emphasise the need to leave the door to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation open for the Baltic States. President Grimsson also emphasised that Iceland is not against European Union, but that the Icelandic Government and Parliament have analysed the phenomena concurrent with the EU accession, especially considering the fact that 70% of the export revenue is provided by fishing industry, and reached the conclusion not to accede to the European Union. And yet, Grimsson added, Iceland has, unlike some EU countries, fulfilled all the conditions proceeding from the Maastricht Treaty.
President Meri assured that Estonia understands Iceland's decision, because if Estonia were a state surrounded by the Arctic Ocean, our decision would probably be the same. Considering our 50 years of experience of totalitarian power, President Meri said, the accession process to EU has motivated Estonia towards improvement in quality, not only in industry but also in politics and in the development of democracy.
President Grimsson reminded the words of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, the President of the Republic of Italy, who had said during his visit to Iceland that the future of Europe is not determined by wealth, as it is commonly believed, but by culture; he also stressed that the deeper meaning of this statement is very well understood in Iceland. President Meri also expressed his hope that within a couple of years most of the people in Estonia will understand that culture is not created by wealth, but vice versa – culture creates wealth.
As the Icelandic head of state said, the President of the Republic of Estonia is expected on a visit to Iceland. President Meri promised to time his visit to the salmon season.

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