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President of the Republic at the inauguration of the Honorary Consulate of Estonia in Pireus, May 24, 1999
24.05.1999

Dear Honorary Consul,
Dear Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Only a few hours ago I had a very friendly meeting with the President of the Hellenic Republic Constantinos Stephanopoulos. Another central event in my long series of meetings is the opening of the Honorary Consulate of Estonia here in Pireus. I have to secure for my-self the way home, after all, if my retinue should happen to lose me.

True enough, we can consider us to be actually present only when this little piece of Es-to-nia in Odesseus Square, headed by the honourable Mr. George Kassimatis, is standing up for its Estonian friends. And not only on festive occasions, under flags, but also with advice and effort, and if ne-ces-sary, also with cunning.

I will tell you a story about the dark-haired Patrick of Ireland. He lived in the Donegal mountains and was asked by the citizens of Dublin to save the reputation of Ireland as an Insula Doctorum be-fore the Oxford professors that had decided to try the wisdom of local sages.

This Patrick of Donegal was known as a clever helper who found solutions even when no-one else found any ways out. On that particular occasion he called together all sages of the university that had started to worry about their reputation due to the increasing fame of Oxford. He told them to send scholars of Latin, Greek and Hebrew dressed as stonemasons to the different crossroads leading to Dublin on the day when the Oxford professors were to be on their way to Dublin.

When the haughty professors of Oxford reached the first crossroads and asked a stonemason for the right way, they heard the answer in clear Latin and were very surprised. They were even more astonished, when they were shown the way in Greek at the second crossroads and were quite taken aback, when the third stonemason addressed them in fluent Hebrew. If already ordinary road wor-kers have a such a good command of classical languages, what can then be assumed about the local scho-lars, they thought and turned back scared and never came to question the Irish sagacity again.

The Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Estonia we are opening today with the cutting of the ribbon has a similar role to fulfil in some sense. This is an obligation to represent the interests of Estonia on a high and professional level. You are, after all, con-tinuing the traditions of Papadatos, our Honorary Consul in Athens, and Georgandas, the De-puty Honorary Consul in Pireus who both worked here before World War II. This work does not only consist in helping tourists that have lost their documents to reach home, but is primarily the creation of mutually beneficial business contacts. While before 1940 the Greek businessmen expressed their interest in Estonian shale oil through the consul, the current relations could develop in the field of trade and next to it there could also be cultural contacts. Today, oil shale is perhaps not Estonia's main export item, but it is for you to find out our attractive features for the Greek trade and to help to make the most of them. I am accompanied by a group of Estonian businessmen. I be-lieve that in a dialogue with them the key to the creation of successful commercial relations will soon emerge.

Our diplomats here and the civil servants in Estonia will assist you in every way in the creation of va-luable contacts and I am also convinced that you will be well received both in Greece and in Es-to-nia in furthering the interests of Estonia.

I wish you a busy summer and subsequent successful years in the development of re-la-tions between Estonia and Greece. I wish you the cleverness of Patrick, the clear-sigh-tedness of Greeks and the persistence of Estonians in pursuing your aims.

 

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