At Kadriorg today, President Lennart Meri presented the 1st class Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana to George Soros, founder of the Open Estonia Foundation, a philanthropist of Hungarian extraction, who came on a one-day visit to Tallinn to receive the award.

At the ceremony for paying tribute to George Soros, who has immensely supported Estonian society through the Open Estonia Foundation, President Meri recalled the words Soros had used about himself as he was promoted to Honorary Doctorate of Oxford University. Soros had then asked to be regarded as a financial, philanthropic and philosophical observer.

Receiving the Order, George Soros said that in the first place the Order had been deserved by the successful Foundation, but he was also very flattered personally and grateful for the high honour, and he was particularly delighted to get the Order from the hands of Lennart Meri. Soros went on to say that it was pleasant to support the building of an open society, for whatever open society exactly means nobody has specified yet.

The Estonian head of state gave George Soros a dinner, which was also attended by Mati Heidmets, Chairman of the Board of the Open Estonian Foundation, Mall Hellam, its Executive Director, and Academicians Peeter Tulviste and Jaak Aaviksoo, Rector and Rector-Elect of Tartu University.

As Mr Soros and his Open Estonia Foundation have given substantial support to education in Estonia, President Meri gave him an English translation of a document called ''Õppiv Eesti'' (''A Learning Estonia''), which sums up the work done during last year by the President's Academic Council.

Receiving that document and wondering if it could be dubbed a charter of Estonian education, Soros said Estonia had paid more attention to education than any other country of the former sphere of influence of the Soviet empire.

According to Academician Aaviksoo, whom the Academic Council had commissioned to compile the document, ''A Learning Estonia'' aims at free and critical thinking. Whereupon Soros linked critical thinking and open society as sister terms.

The President's Office also sent ''A Learning Estonia'' to British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook. The Estonian head of state had told him about the document while on a visit to the United Kingdom as they were discussing the importance of education in all Europe. On February 25 President Meri gave the document to the Chairman of the Riigikogu, Toomas Savi, for discussion in the parliament.


Press Service of the President's Office
Kadriorg, March 4, 1998

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