Today President Lennart Meri received in Kadriorg Mr. Johannes Linn, Vice-President of the World Bank, and the World Bank delegation accompanying the Vice-President on his visit to Estonia.
On the meeting the activities of World Bank in Estonia and further opportunities for co-operation were discussed. It was pointed out that the co-operation between Estonia and the World Bank, which started in 1992, has been fruitful.
As the World Bank leaders said, Estonia has successfully concluded the period of transition from planned economy to market economy and is now beginning a new stage, characterised by the start of accession negotiations with the European Union.
The World Bank ensured that the support to Estonia will continue in the future, and expressed the intention to lay the main emphasis of the support on the programmes enhancing agriculture, environment protection and public administration.
As President Meri said, it is especially necessary to educate a new generation of public administrators who would meet the demands of modern times, and to ensure their due motivation in order to guarantee Estonia's development in the future.
In co-operation with the World Bank the Economic Memorandum will be prepared this year, where Estonia's possible starting positions on the EU accession negotiations will be delineated.

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