President Lennart Meri met with Tony Blair, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, today in London. In addition to the relationships between Estonia and Britain, the negotiations between Estonia and the European Union, scheduled to begin next month, were also one of the main subjects of the meeting. The President of Estonia told the British Prime Minister that Estonia needs to learn from the experience Britain has in reforms and in the financial system.

In the meeting, Tony Blair confirmed that during the UK Presidency of the European Union, Great Britain will do its best to make the negotiations fast and, if necessary, will bring pressure to bear to increase the speed.

According to Blair the course of the negotiations is fast and he expressed his appreciation of the work already done. The leader of Estonia expressed gratitude to the leader of the Government of Great Britain for the support that has been given since the War of Independence. The President described the reforms that have already been carried through and added that Estonia is a stable country. ''This means that now we have even more reason for paying attention to social reforms,'' said President Meri. Prime Minister Blair said that the issue was also an important in Great Britain.

Discussing the expansion of NATO, Tony Blair said that Great Britain supports the goals of Estonia. ''At the present time British policies are such that the door to NATO should be wide open, including for Estonia.'' Tony Blair said that Great Britain supports both the goals of Estonia.

The issue of ethnic minorities was also discussed in the meeting and the leader of the British Government asked about the number of citizens of foreign countries residing in Estonia. At the end of the meeting with president Meri Tony Blair said: ''Looks like there has been progress in this field as well.''


Press Service of the Office of the President of the Republic of Estonia
Kadriorg, February 26, 1998

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