President Lennart Meri received a parliamentary delegation from Sweden, headed by the Speaker of the Riksdag, Ms Brigitta Dahl, at Kadriorg today. The guests are on a visit in Estonia to discuss the cooperation of national parliaments in an integrating Europe.

The conversation between the Estonian head of state and the Swedish MPs was concerned with the increasingly close cooperation between Estonia and Sweden, and President Meri expressed his contentment with such development.

Brigitta Dahl affirmed that at all meetings, including those with Russian statesmen, Swedish representatives had stressed Estonia's right to make its own decisions. President Meri said he was grateful for the support. According to Ms Dahl, the view in Sweden is that besides Estonia's progress towards EU and NATO membership some progress has been made in its relations with Russia.

Ms Dahl expressed an opinion that if Russia is engaged in regional cooperation projects, such as the cooperation of the Baltic Sea states or a Barents Sea project, it will help prevent the possibility of the emergence of chaos in Russia.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, January 28, 1998

back | archive of press releases | main page