|
Books on Estonia
REPUBLICAN REFERENCE
Area (sq.km)
45,226
Population
1,341,664
Principal
ethnic groups
Estonians 63.9%
Russians 29%
Ukrainians 2.7%
Capital
Tallinn
Currency
Kroon
President
Arnold Rüütel
|
Update No: 290 - (25/02/05)
New border treaty with Russia
The fraught relations between Estonia and Russia eased slightly in early
February when Russian Patriarch Alexius II organised a path-breaking meeting
between Estonian President Arnold Ruutel and his Russian counterpart Vladimir
Putin. At the meeting, in the Kremlin compound of the Patriarch - a native of
Estonia - the two presidents are reported to have agreed that a border treaty
between the two countries should be signed before May, thus removing a key
stumbling block to good neighbourly relations.
"Putin agreed that the border treaty should be signed by our foreign
ministers and said he would give the task to the foreign ministry," Ruutel
told journalists after the meeting. The border treaty has been in abeyance since
1996 when it was initialled by the two countries, only to be shelved by Russia.
The main argument of Moscow for not signing the treaty with Estonia, and a
similar one with neighbouring Latvia, has been concern by the Kremlin for the
rights of the sizeable Russian-speaking communities in the two Baltic states.
And although the Russian population is relatively small in the third Baltic
country, Lithuania, its border treaty with Russia was only ratified by the Duma
in 2003.
The Baltic states were occupied by the Soviet Union for almost five decades
after World War II, and only regained their independence in 1991. Russia has
kept a nervous eye on the Baltic states ever since.
Moscow opposed the three countries joining NATO and the EU last year, but its
opposition went unheeded. "The Russian side earlier tried to delay signing
the border treaty in order to place an obstacle in the path of the Baltic states
to NATO and EU membership, but those two organisations understood that Estonia
and Latvia had done all they could," Andres Kasekamp, director of the
Estonian Foreign Policy Institute, told AFP.
"Ironically, now the treaty is of more importance to Russia because it
wants to reach an agreement on visa freedom with the EU, and border treaties
with neighbouring countries are a prerequisite for this."
Although the Estonian president's meeting with Putin was unofficial, it may give
an impetus to languid bilateral relations, observers say. "The meeting is
very significant, in particular if the promises that were made are actually
fulfilled," Marko Mihkelson, head of the Estonian parliament's foreign
affairs committee, told AFP.
Kasekamp of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute agreed. "If the
Putin-Ruutel meeting is followed up by official statements and the action (of
signing a treaty) publicly promised, it will be a big breakthrough in
Estonian-Russian relations," Kasekamp said. "Putin apparently has
finally realized that Estonia is a member of the EU and not just a former Soviet
republic."
But there could still be a barrier to the signing of the border treaty, because
Russia wants the pacts it signs with Estonia and Latvia to be part of a package
deal which would include another pact, proposed by Moscow, on bilateral
cooperation. Both Estonian and Latvian officials have said the Moscow-proposed
cooperation declarations are no good and need a rewrite.
"The Russian declaration in its current version is unacceptable for Latvia,
because the pact between Hitler and Stalin, which for Latvia meant loss of
independence for almost 50 years, is not mentioned in it," Andrejs
Pildegovics, an aide to Latvian President Vaira Vike Freiberga, told AFP. And
Estonian Prime Minister Juhan Parts said Estonia should take its time to decide
whether to sign a bilateral political declaration with Russia. "We are keen
to keep the two things apart: the border treaty and any other document of a
general political nature," Parts said.
Although Ruutel said Putin agreed during their meeting that the signing of the
border treaty and any other document should not be tied together, Kasekamp of
the Foreign Policy Institute was hedging his bets. "We will be sure that
the political declaration has been dropped altogether only after the border
treaty is actually signed," said Kasekamp. "Russian diplomacy is in
the habit of adding unrelated last-minute demands."
Uproar over border deal in Estonia irks Pskov
Less than a week after the Estonian government confirmed its intention to
sign a border treaty negotiated with Russia in 1999, but not yet signed or
ratified, people on both sides were arguing about where it should be. Over 500
representatives of Estonia's Setu ethnic minority gathered outside the Estonian
parliament and the Russian embassy in Tallinn on February 2nd to object to the
agreement. Their posters said "No to the Border of the U.S.S.R." and
"We Want the Border of the Tartu Treaty" protesters.
They were referring to the 1920 Tartu Treaty border used before 1940 when the
Soviet Union occupied the Baltic State. Some 50 villages where Setu people live
and which were in Estonia were incorporated into the Pskov region and Leningrad
Oblast and remain there to this day. "We protest that the prepared border
agreement is based on the divisions of the former Soviet Union, but not
according the borders established under the peace treaty signed in Tartu,"
Interfax cited Ilmar Vananurm, an organizer of the protest and a member of
Counsel of Elders of Setu community as saying on February 2nd.
"Because of the consensual policy of the government, the Setu community is
split in two," Interfax quoted Ilmar Vananurm, one of the organizers of the
protest and a member of Setu Council of Elders, as saying on February 2nd.
"We have lost part of our territory."
The Pskov region government was quick to hit back against the protesters.
"We are not going to get involved in this provocation and hope that the
claims made by the participants at today's protest in Tallinn against signing
the border agreement are not the official position of Estonian government,"
Interfax cited an anonymous Pskov official as saying on February 2nd.
"There is constructive economic and cultural cooperation [between the Pskov
region and the parts of Estonia next to the border]," he said. "We
would like to develop it farther; we want to cooperate actively and believe that
the border agreement will soon be signed."
Interfax said the Setu people were first mentioned in official documents of 1838
when about 16,000 of them lived in the Pechora district. Vananur said the Setu
community planned to organize a similar meeting for the following Wednesday,
February 9th, on the anniversary of the signing of the Tartu Treaty.
Economy performing well
Estonia's economic performance continues to be impressive in many respects.
The updated convergence programme for the period 2004-2008 aims at achieving a
budget on balance from 2005 onwards after an expected 1% surplus in 2004.
The programme assumes an acceleration of output growth from 5.6% in 2004 to 5.9%
in 2005 and close to 6% until 2008, a projection which appears plausible and
even prudent.
Overall, the risks to the budgetary projections in the programme appear broadly
balanced. On the one hand, the cautious macroeconomic scenario suggests that
revenues could be higher and expenditure somewhat lower than budgeted. Indeed,
Estonia has established a track record of prudent government forecasting and
repeated overshooting of fiscal targets over the past few years. On the other
hand, unexpected revenue shortfalls from the ongoing tax cuts, or an adverse
impact on growth from exogenous shocks cannot be excluded altogether.
At 4.8% of GDP, Estonia's debt is the lowest in the EU and is set to decline
further. This means that the country is well placed to meet the budgetary costs
of an ageing population and to maintain a medium-term objective of a budget
close-to-balance over the entire programme period.
«
Top
AVIATION
Estonian Air to spread its wings
Estonian Air will open two new regular routes, Tallinn-Milan, on March 30th 2005
at the beginning of the summer schedule and Tallinn-Manchester as of May 10th,
2005, prweb.com reported.
Both routes will be served twice a week: Tallinn-Milan on Wednesdays and
Saturdays, and Tallinn-Manchester on Tuesdays and Saturdays. From June to
September the Tallinn-Milan route will also be served on Mondays.
Estonian Air is also adding a Friday morning flight to the Tallinn-Oslo route at
the beginning of March and a Saturday flight at the end of March. Estonian Air
adds to its upcoming summer schedule a Tuesday flight on the Tallinn-Dublin
route, expanding its already existing services on Thursday and Sundays. From
June to September the route will additionally be served on Fridays. The exact
departure times will be published soon. Estonian Air's five 113-seat Boeings
737-500 offers regular services from Tallinn to 17 European destinations.
«
Top
FOOD & DRINK
Atria, agreement to purchase share capital of AS Valga Lihatoostus
Atria, a Finnish meat processing company, announced it has signed a definitive
agreement to purchase the entire issued share capital of Estonian company, AS
Valga Lihatoostus, just-food.com reported recently.
AS Valga Lihatoostus is the second biggest beef and pork processing company in
Estonia. Valga's share of the Estonian meat products market is about 15%, and
Valga products are sold through all the major food retail chains in Estonia. In
addition, Valga has established a strong position in Latvia. Atria said the
Estonian Competition Authority has cleared the acquisition.
«
Top
FOREIGN INVESTMENT
Estonia posts 10m kroons in FDI
Enterprise expects Estonia's foreign direct investments to stand between 10 and
11bn kroons in 2004, New Europe reported recently.
This would be slightly below 2003 FDI when Estonia attracted 12.4bn kroons in
FDI. According to Mart Kivine, marketing manager of Enterprise Estonia, FDI in
2005 should go up notably and in 2006 reach €1bn (15.6bn kroons). In three
quarters of 2004, Estonia received 8.1bn kroons in FDI. "This is still a
rough estimate," Kivine said, adding that the agency expects to publish the
final figures at the end of January.
«
Top
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
AS Telegrupp and NetCentrex announce Baltic partnership
NetCentrex, the leading enabler of converged voice-video-data networks and next
generation services, and AS Telegrupp, a leading communications networks and
solutions integrator in Estonia, and daughter company of UAB Comliet Group,
announced a partnership through which AS Telegrupp will distribute, integrate
and support NetCentrex IP communications solutions in Estonia and the Baltic
Region, TCMNet.com reported recently.
"This partnership is an indication of our dedication to providing our fixed
and mobile network customers with effective, long-term communications
solutions," said Ivo Remmelg, CEO of Telegrupp.
"NetCentrex has the largest installed base of voice over IP deployments and
an impressive list of operators who already have commercial IP services based on
their technologies, including companies in Eastern and Central Europe, Telegrupp
aims to extend NetCentrex' presence into the Baltic region and provide customers
with profitable communications solutions."
Boris Dezier, regional director for CIS, Eastern and Central Europe at
NetCentrex added: "The NetCentrex Telegrupp partnership agreement brings
essential technologies to the rapidly developing Baltic States communications
market. Telegrupp's extensive business, integration and maintenance experience
in the communications sector coupled with NetCentrex' expertise in carrier-grade
network technologies and service applications enables the two companies to offer
a unique range of solutions and a smooth migration to converged networks."
NetCentrex solutions include Business Services and MyCall Residential Broadband
Communications solutions.
«
Top
MANUFACTURING
Ryterna expands to western Europe
The Kauna-based gate manufacturer Ryterna hopes to increase its output by about
150% in the near future after launching exports to Europe, New Europe has
reported.
The company already exports about half of its products and has started building
a warehouse and terminal in the German town of Fulda in a bid to increase
exports further. "Last year, our company's sales were about 30m litas, and
we plan further 55-60% growth this year, mainly to Western European
markets," said Ryterna CEO Vytautas Rinkevicius.
«
Top
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Tallinn and Rome pledge scientific collaboration
A cultural, educational, scientific and technological cooperation agreement
between Italy and Estonia was signed for the first time on January 5th, Cordis
News reported.
In force until 2008, the agreement provides for researcher exchanges, sharing of
scientific information and documentation, collaborative projects, cooperation
between institutions and organisation of joint events.
As part of the agreement, nine joint projects have been selected for funding.
For each project, one short term or long term stay will be financed annually.
The projects address a wide range of scientific challenges, including:
methodologies for enhancing the reliability of digital systems; posture and
movement in children with cerebral palsy; econophysics models for chaotic and
complex social-economic systems; and the impact of climate change on
agricultural forest ecosystems. Italy and Estonia will also encourage the design
of joint research projects that may receive funding from EU or other
international programmes.
In the field of higher education, the parties shall exchange 3 university
lecturers and/or researchers every year; they will spend 10 days in the other
country in order to establish contacts and identify research fields of common
interest. The visits will also be aimed at initiating cooperation between
universities and education institutions in the 2 countries.
Both Estonia and Italy also pledged to encourage contacts between the Permanent
Conference of Italian University Rectors and its Estonian counterparts. In order
to ensure collaboration in relation to archives, libraries and publishing, the
two countries will exchange an archivist every year with the task of gathering
information on the organisation of the other party's archives.
« Top
|
