On Thursday, February 5, President Lennart Meri took part in a meeting of the trustees of the Tartu University Foundation, held in Haapsalu, followed by a meeting with entrepreneurs of Haapsalu and the County of Läänemaa. President Meri is the patron of the Tartu University Foundation.

The meeting, presided over by the Chairman of the trustees of the Foundation, Jaan Männik, deliberated how higher education could be rendered more important in Estonia and how funds could be raised for Tartu University. Following the first field session of the trustees in Haapsalu, plans are to canvass possibilities of supporting the University financially in Rapla, Jõhvi and elsewhere in Estonia. The trustees also discussed the need to amend the Income Tax Act towards making individuals' endowments tax-deductible.

Another topic at the meeting of the trustees of the Tartu University Foundation was the establishment of a University Column Endowment. The trustees accepted President Meri's suggestion to call it the Seventh Column Foundation. Among others, several Estonian banks have promised contributions to that foundation, and it could be used for granting scholarships to students and young researchers.

The trustees introduced Vello Soots, one of the counsellors of the Tartu University Foundation, to President Meri. Mr Soots, the Toronto counsellor, attended the meeting himself. Another counsellor has been found in the person of Mr Jaan Teär, who will be the official representative of the trustees in Sweden. President Meri told the trustees he would be grateful in the name of Estonian policy if they, too, gave more thought to relations with Germany. According to the President, it should still be possible to establish contacts in Germany with Baltic Germans who may have studied at Tartu University themselves or whose fathers have done so, and this could be a sound basis for enhancing relations.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, 9 February 1998

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