The Estonian head of state Lennart Meri and Presidents Guntis Ulmanis of Latvia and Algirdas Brazauskas of Lithuania met Mr Louis Freeh, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Ms Janet Reno, US Attorney General, in Washington on Friday.
The main topic of the conversation was combating organized crime, which, as all agreed, is an important element of consolidating a country's independence and of the expansion of the democratic world. This is a reason why, and an area where, the American side is very interested in cooperation with the Baltic states. Attorney General Reno also stressed the importance of personal contacts and affirmed that she was always personally prepared to assist in solving any arising problems.
One of the major areas of cooperation is training, where the US hopes for coordination with other countries to increase; for example, matters of training could be coordinated within the framework of the Council of the Baltic Sea States. Suggestions from the Baltic states are also welcome before the US makes its offers of training aid, the American representatives told the Baltic Presidents.
FBI Director Freeh pointed out the most important areas of training, such as combating organized crime, financial crime, corruption, and drug addiction.
A common understanding was that effective cooperation in the solution of individual cases was also of great importance. Both the American and the Baltic sides expressed their full satisfaction at the current development of these relations and agreed that the Charter of Partnership was providing a basis for particular actions in the future.

back | archive of press releases | main page