Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

The delegation of the Republic of Estonia, my wife and I thank you for the cordial welcome and cordial speech.

I have often told myself that Estonia and Iceland have more in common than any other two European countries, and these links have strengthened further in the last ten years, after Iceland played the key role in the restoration of our independence, which gave us both the right and the obligation to co-operation.

We both are small nations. Furthermore, it is quite unusual for me to visit a country with a smaller population than Estonia! But we have both committed ourselves to democratic values and the defence of Europe for whatever danger that could threaten our free countries. And we both have a very special and unique relationship with the nature of our countries.

Estonia, as you know, is from the north coast onwards situated on the huge plain of limestone, which has begun to rise from the sea slowly after the last Ice Age. Thus the Estonian landscape, our islands, lakes and boulders are the link connecting us to the Nordic countries. And we have, for fifty centuries, survived on this huge rock, and spoken the language that more often than not has been our ultimate weapon, our secret language.

Also the people of Iceland have a unique relationship with their land. You have settled on the breaking line, where the volcanic powers have their outlet. Of these powers, your land was born, and I should not wonder if the world's oldest parliamentary organisation, the Icelandic Althing, had been born of the same powers. The Icelandic people have defied both nature's and man's attempts of subjugation. You too speak a unique, a little mysterious language, and may therefore be able to imagine how glad I was to send here as my first Ambassador an Estonian who knew your language, and whose affinity to your nation has also brought him into our midst today.

But we are not united merely by our extraordinary relation to our islands or our commitment to the principles of democracy. Every Estonian knows the role that Iceland played helping us to restore our independence at the time when many outstanding politicians believed this to be impossible.

We shall never forget the role of your former Minister of Foreign Affairs and today's Ambassador in Washington Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson, who encouraged me in Tallinn on the gloomy days of January 1991, and gave your nation a live report of the attempt of the imperialist powers to drown in blood the budding independence in Riga, our neighbouring capital. I shall not forget this midnight scene - Hannibalsson straddled behind my desk, phone in hand, eyes on the TV. We shall not forget that you and your government defended us at the time when all the others were silent. And I cherish as a priceless treasure a memory of the day when I arrived in Reykjavik with the Foreign Ministers of Latvia and Lithuania, shortly after our regained independence, of which the Soviet administration had once robbed us with the help of Hitler.

May I today, Mr. President, confide to you what it was that worried me on that day?

A Foreign Minister of a small country must think of everything, and leaving Tallinn for Reykjavik, I had taken with me a handful of small blue-black-white flags for the desks. Because - where for God's sake were you supposed to get them from?! You can imagine my surprise when I saw the streets of Reykjavik adorned with Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian flags. I felt then that besides our smallness, we have another thing in common - the capability to think of everything. And yesterday, at the Blue Lagoon, the Icelandic lady who had landed here with a load of flags from New York just a couple of hours before my arrival on that day, was introduced to me. We applauded to her on the fantastic lava landscape, but the hot fumes from the lagoon hid my emotion, and therefore, I take the liberty once more, in your presence, to thank Mrs. Sigridur Birgisdóttir.

If you allow me, Mr. President, I would like to repeat your own words, spoken on June 9 last year in Tallinn: ''When I and the then Foreign Minister signed the declaration of restoring diplomatic relations, it was one of the most beautiful moments of my political career.'' These are my words too. The photograph of a table covered with green baize, with the unprecedented sign ''Estonia'' on it, has a place of honour on the wall of my office.

Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

In life, unforgettable moments are followed by everyday work, which we also have the right and obligation to carry on together.

For Estonia, it is important that our accession to NATO should give no conjunctural repercussions: that we could use our right consciously to choose and improve the system of security, which deserves our trust. In this question we feel Iceland's clear support and solidarity.

It is important that the Kosovo crisis or other temporary considerations should not hinder the enlargement of the European Union. Let us be realistic - the impetus of the EU enlargement shows signs of waning. If we only keep accounts of the expenditure, this could naturally rouse scepticism. A broader view on the opportunities of political development offers a different picture: enlargement would bring success to the whole of the EU. Here, too, we are hoping for Iceland's support.

I am convinced that the negotiations with the business delegation accompanying me will bear good fruit. I see opportunities for co-operation in science, arts and education. In Estonia, we have a great interest in Iceland.

Mr. President,
ladies and gentlemen,

With these conclusions and intentions, we are approaching the threshold of the new century. Without the cataclysms of the mid-century, we would of course have been more advanced. But only the sagas perhaps could tell us where exactly we would have stood then.

Thus, I have plenty of reasons to be both happy and proud for the third opportunity to visit your country, this time as a President and with a firm hope to promote the co-operation between two small but proud nations, who still stubbornly believe in common values and principles.

Allow me, Mr. President, to raise my glass to your health, and to the honour and prosperity of Iceland.

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