Estonian Review 3-9 December 2010

FOREIGN NEWS
DEFENCE NEWS
ECONOMIC NEWS
CULTURAL NEWS

FOREIGN NEWS

Estonia is Now Full Member of OECD

9 December - As of today Estonia is officially a full member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Estonia became a full member of the organisation after Estonian Ambassador to France Sven Jürgenson presented Estonia’s accession treaty to the French Foreign Ministry for storage.
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet stated that Estonia’s successful path towards OECD accession has come to an end. “Accession to the OECD confirms the success of Estonia’s economic policy and the stability of it economic environment, and also increases our trustworthiness and attractiveness as a target for investments,” stated Foreign Minister Paet. “We will be able to celebrate the OECD’s 50th anniversary as a full-fledged member,” he added.
The OECD, which has the goal of supporting global economic development and expanding world trade, will offer good opportunities to Estonia for further development. “In addition, Estonia being invited and accepted as an OECD member is recognition of our society,” said Paet. Estonia will also be opening a representation to the OECD at its headquarters in Paris.
Estonia expressed interest in joining the OECD as early as 1996. In 2007 Estonia was invited to accession negotiations, which ended in the spring of 2010 when Estonia signed the accession treaty with the OECD. On 14 November the Riigikogu approved the necessary documents for accession, namely the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s convention of 14 December 1960, the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the OECD on the rights, immunity and concessions given to the organisation, and the agreement on the conditions of the Republic of Estonia acceding to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s convention.

Visa Freedom for Ukrainian Citizens is Important to Estonia

7 December - At today’s meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet confirmed Estonia’s support for Ukraine in visa negotiations with the European Union, the goal of which is visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens. “A clear prospect for visa freedom is necessary for Ukraine to rapidly grow closer to the European Union,” he said.
At the meeting, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet noted that quicker progress should also be made with the European Union-Ukraine Association Agreement and in free trade agreement negotiations between the EU and Ukraine. Foreign Minister Paet added that we expect Ukraine to continue making democratic reforms.
At his meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Mikola Azarov, Foreign Minister Paet emphasised that Ukraine will continue to be one of Estonia’s primary partner countries for development co-operation in the coming years. “Potential areas of co-operation are the implementation of information and communications technology in state administration, domestic security, education, and energy conservation,” said Paet. Ukrainian Prime Minister Azarov recognised Estonia’s rapid development and Estonia’s accession to the euro zone and the OECD. Azarov and Paet also discussed matters related to energy security. “Estonia and Ukraine are interested in finding new alternatives for energy supplies and stronger connections with other European nations,” said the Estonian foreign minister.
At the meeting Paet also noted that Estonia is starting up an Eastern Partnership training centre in Tallinn as of 1 January. “Ukrainian diplomats and officials are welcome to come participate,” he said.
Foreign Minister Paet said that next year Estonia will open its new embassy building in Kiev. “After renovations we will have a better working environment at the embassy than before,” he added.

Increasing Energy Security is Shared Interest of Estonia and Ukraine

8 December - At his meeting in Kiev with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Konstantin Gristsenko, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said that Estonia would open its new embassy building in Kiev in the first half of next year.
At their meeting, Paet and Gristsenko said that an important goal in the near future is increasing the energy security of both nations. “This applies to both new electrical connections as well as possible alternatives for gas supplies,” Paet added. “The EU and international financial institutions are ready to help Ukraine continue to modernise its gas system.”
In talking about bilateral relations, Foreign Minister Paet expressed hope that regular flights to Tallinn by the Ukrainian airline AeroSvit starting in 2011 would increase visits by Ukrainian citizens to Estonia. “In 2010 the number of visa applications in Ukraine rose by a third compared to the previous year, and the number of tourists among them doubled,” he mentioned.
The foreign ministers also discussed the OSCE summit during their meeting. Foreign Minister Paet recognised the OSCE Permanent Council’s decision to confirm Ukraine as the chairman of the OSCE in 2013.
During his visit to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet placed a bouquet on the Holodomor Memorial in Kiev dedicated to the victims of the Ukrainian famine and also visited the memorial museum. “This was one of the most terrible tragedies of the 20th century, and it must not be forgotten,” Paet said.
During his visit Paet also opened an Estonia-Ukraine business seminar.
During the opening he stated, “Ukrainian investments in Estonia have tripled this year. We hope that this trend of Ukrainian companies managing their activities in Scandinavia and the European Union from Estonia will continue.”
Foreign Minister Paet also noted that the work of the Estonia-Ukraine Intergovernmental Commission has been restored, the goal of which is to resolve issues that affect businesses. “It is important for Estonia that agreements for the protection of investments and other international obligations are completely fulfilled. Close to 30 agreements have been concluded between Estonia and Ukraine,” he stated.
Paet added that among the nations in which Estonia has made direct investments, Ukraine stands in 6th place with nearly 185 million euros.

President Discusses Euro Zone Problems with van Rompuy in Brussels

8 December - “The problems that the euro area is facing today teach us how to make our monetary union stronger. This includes influencing the economic and budgetary policies of our Member States, if appropriate,” said President Toomas Hendrik Ilves at his meeting with Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council. “Should the crisis mechanism serve as the ‘last resort’ or a solidarity fund? Estonia is in favour of the former,” President Ilves emphasised, confirming his support for the establishment of a permanent crisis management mechanism for the euro area.
President Ilves, who spoke about the establishment of the foreign service of the EU, emphasised that a common EU foreign policy cannot be pursued if it is directed from only one part of Europe.
President Ilves also met with European Commission Vice President and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes in Brussels, and during that meeting emphasised that the EU should make better use of the opportunities offered by information technology.
The Estonian head of state mentioned that today only one fifth of on-line sales and less than a tenth of on-line purchases are made cross-border, and more than half of the attempts to buy goods or services from another country fail.
"Although large member states of the EU do not perceive a strong need to act because of the size of their domestic market, smaller member states and outlying areas of the EU stand to gain closer integration into our common economic space through cross-border e-solutions,” President Ilves argued. “This will create new opportunities for both consumers and entrepreneurs, who will turn the EU internal market into a home market for all of us.”
A legal framework in the EU that abolishes any obstacles must be created to avoid national borders interfering with the development of the digital economy, said President Ilves, who also emphasised the importance of copyright, consumer rights regulation, and data protection.
According to the Estonian head of state, the possibilities for introducing cross-border digital signatures and authentication and cross-border co-operation alternatives for commercial registers and e-procurement systems should be established.
President Ilves acknowledged the efforts of Commissioner Kroes in promoting the issues of a common digital market in the European Union.
“Thanks to your efforts, the European Commission is a good partner for e-minded EU member states,” the Estonian president confirmed. “We have a clear objective – to establish an extensive and successfully operating digital market in the European Union by 2015.”

Ilves and Rasmussen Discuss NATO Solidarity, Cyber Defence

9 December - Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves emphasised at Thursday's meeting with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen the importance of the alliance's visibility, credibility and inner solidarity. “The resolutions have been passed by NATO’s summit in Lisbon. The alliance has properly balanced its main functions – collective defence, crisis management, and co-operation with partners – in its new strategic concept and now the main focus must be on the implementation of the Lisbon resolutions,” said President Ilves his meeting with Rasmussen.
One of these resolutions is the establishment of the alliance’s cyber strategy, in which Estonia wants to participate actively and the NATO Centre of Excellence for Co-operative Cyber Defence can be used for the development of new solutions. Many alliance members have already joined the centre.
“Cyber defence should be treated as one of the common military capabilities for which clear objectives need to be set,” said President Ilves. “NATO’s cyber strategy should not merely concern devising defence for the alliance's big systems, so to speak, but it should also defend the important infrastructure of member states.”
Ilves emphasised the importance of the visibility, credibility, and internal solidarity of NATO, saying that both the organisation of exercises in member states and, for example, the continuation of the air security mission in the Baltic states play an important role to this end. “We want this mission to be continued until 2018 and beyond,” said President Ilves. “The contribution of the alliance and many of its members in keeping the airspace of the Baltic states clean has been successful, and this has been proven by a considerable reduction in the number of border violations.” Estonia is willing to increase its expenditure as host country, which demonstrates our intent to participate, more and more, in defending NATO’s air space.
The NATO secretary general thanked Estonia for its strong contribution in Afghanistan, where more than five hundred and fifty Estonian Defence Forces members are serving in one of the most dangerous areas, the southern province; additionally, Estonia co-ordinates the rebuilding of health care system in Helmand Province.

Estonia’s Crisis Exit Experience Shared with Slovenian Prime Minister

6 December (BNS) - Prime Minister Andrus Ansip met in Tallinn today with Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor, the primary aim of whose visit was to hear about the Estonian experience of exiting from the economic crisis.
Ansip feels that the Estonian economy has recovered from the crisis. The keys to success were sustainable public finance, a tight fiscal policy, and accession to the euro zone, the prime minister said. He added that Estonia showed flexibility on both the public sector and the government side during the economic downturn.
Ansip explained that economic growth of Estonia's main foreign trade partners, like the growth of the world economy in general, was faster than expected in the first half of this year which helped the recovery of the Estonian economy. He underlined the important role of budget reserves accumulated during the phase of economic expansion in exiting the crisis.
Pahor stated that if Slovenia was not a member of the euro area the country would have faced a considerably more serious crisis last year. Slovenia adopted the common European currency in 2007.
The heads of government acknowledged good relations between Estonia and Slovenia. Intercommunication has been lively ever since the first years of regained independence. Membership in the EU and NATO has helped the two nations to forge even closer ties. Estonia and Slovenia also joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development at the same time.

Paet: Estonia’s Goal is a World Free of Chemical Weapons

3 December - At his meeting yesterday with Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPWC) Ahmet Üzümcü, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet noted that Estonia’s goal is to achieve the complete prohibition and destruction of chemical weapons.
Paet stated that currently 97% of the world’s nations have joined the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which confirms that most of the countries in the world share the goal of prohibiting these weapons and that the convention is a unique means for disarming and preventing the distribution of weapons of mass destruction. “I hope that those nations that have not yet joined the convention will do so very soon,” he added.
Foreign Minister Paet stated that the prohibition and destruction of chemical weapons is important for Estonia and a meeting for representatives from the state institutions of Eastern European countries that have joined the convention will be organised in Tallinn next May.
Estonia signed the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and their Destruction on 14 January 1993. The convention has 188 nations participating. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which has its headquarters in The Hague, was established in 1997 on the basis of the convention. The convention prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, distribution and use of chemical weapons. Estonia ratified the convention on 25 June 1999.

Ambassador to Germany Demonstrated Use of German ID Card in Estonian State Internet Portal

7 December - At the 5th National IT Summit taking place in Dresden, Germany on 7 December, Estonian Ambassador Mart Laanemäe demonstrated the opportunities offered by the Estonian state portal eesti.ee using a new German ID card, which have been issued since November of this year.
The services offered by the Estonian state portal eesti.ee can be accessed not only with Estonian ID cards but with the ID cards of nine other nations, including the German ID card.
Ambassador Laanemäe’s explanation as to how the German ID card works in the Estonian portal was attended by German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziére and Vice President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes.
Access to the administrative and business portals of other member states is possible thanks to the European Union project STORK, which is geared towards the recognition and utilisation of national IT solutions in other member states. Currently 10 EU member states have joined STORK, including Estonia.

Estonian Ambassador to France Presents Credentials

3 December - Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the Republic of France Sven Jürgenson presented his credentials to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Ambassador Sven Jürgenson stated that Estonia-France bilateral relations are good and close. There are certainly more opportunities to develop them even further, first and foremost in the defence co-operation sector. “The agreement between France and Estonia regarding the European IT agency bring created will certainly intensify IT-related co-operation between the countries,” said Ambassador Jürgenson.
In the discussion that followed the credential presentation ceremony, Ambassador Sven Jürgenson thanked the president of France for France’s active participation in the NATO air policing mission and also recognised France’s role in starting up the NATO air policing mission.
Ambassador Sven Jürgenson was born in 1962. He graduated from the information processing department of Tallinn Polytechnic Institute. He started doing diplomatic work in 1991, when he went to work for the Estonian Embassy in Helsinki. From 1993-1995 Sven Jürgenson worked at the Estonian Embassy in Vienna. From 1995-1996 he was the director of the Foreign Ministry’s division for international organisations and security and the deputy director of the political department. From 1996-1998 Sven Jürgenson was the director general of the political department while also serving as the Estonian ambassador to Turkey residing in Tallinn. From 1998-2000 he was the Estonian ambassador to the UN and from 2000-2003 Jürgenson served as the ambassador to the United States. From 2003-2006 Sven Jürgenson was the Foreign Ministry undersecretary for political affairs. Before assuming his current position Jürgenson worked in the Chancellery of the President as an outside counsellor. The ambassador speaks English, German, French, Finnish and Russian.

First Residing Estonian Ambassador to Egypt Presents Credentials

5 December - Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the Arab Republic of Egypt Paul Teesalu presented his credentials to Egyptian President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak. During the credential presenting ceremony, Ambassador Teesalu passed along a message to President Mubarak from President Toomas Hendrik Ilves with greetings and a sincere wish to develop bilateral relations between Estonia and Egypt.
The Estonian Embassy in Egypt was opened in March of this year and Paul Teesalu is the first Estonian ambassador to permanently reside in Cairo. The ambassador stated that in Estonia-Egypt bilateral relations there is reciprocal interest in strengthening economic and cultural ties. “Estonian entrepreneurs discovered Egypt as an export market and Egypt has become the most popular tourist destination among Estonians,” said Teesalu.
Ambassador Teesalu was born in 1975 in Lääne County. In 1997 he graduated from Tartu University and the Tartu Theological Seminary with a degree in theology and later he also studied at the Estonian School of Diplomacy and the Federal German School of Diplomacy. Paul Teesalu began his diplomatic career in 1998 in the Foreign Ministry’s political department in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia division. From 2001-2004 he worked at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Estonia to the OSCE in Vienna, and from 2004-2007 at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Estonia to NATO in Brussels. From 2007-2009 Teesalu was the director of the Foreign Ministry’s division for international organisations and starting in 2009 until assuming his position in Cairo this fall he was the director of the Foreign Ministry’s security policy division. Ambassador Teesalu speaks English, German and Russian. Ambassador Teesalu is married and has a son and a daughter.

Estonian Ambassador to India Presents Credentials

8 December - Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the Republic of India Peep Jahilo presented his credentials to President of the Republic of India Prathiba Devisingh Patil. Ambassador Peep Jahilo resides in Tallinn.
In the discussion following the presentation of credentials, Ambassador Peep Jahilo passed along greetings from President Toomas Hendrik Ilves to the president of India. Ambassador Jahilo introduced the newest developments in Estonia to President Patil, including its upcoming accession to the euro zone. He also confirmed his readiness to help promote bilateral economic relations between Estonia and India.
Ambassador Peep Jahilo noted that Estonia-India relations have developed dynamically. “The official visit by Riigikogu Speaker Ene Ergma to India took place at the beginning of this year, political consultations between the foreign ministries take place every year, and last year a business forum introducing reciprocal business connections took place in Tallinn,” said Jahilo. The ambassador added that the development of information and biotechnology are important for both India and Estonia and it will certainly be possible to find many joint activities in these sectors. “There is also potential to advance cultural and educational co-operation. Researcher and student exchanges are already taking place between Estonia and India,” said Jahilo.
Ambassador Jahilo said that the Indian president acknowledged that relations between Estonia and India are very good and understanding. In addition to bilateral relations, President Patil also mentioned the need for comprehensive co-operation in international organisations. Evidence of this is India becoming a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2011—Estonia was among those providing support for this outcome.
Ambassador Peep Jahilo was born in1962 in Tallinn. He graduated from the philology department of Tartu University in 1985. Jahilo has worked in the foreign service since 1990. He has been the director of the foreign minister’s office and the director general of the personnel department as well as a counsellor in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic. From 1995-1997 Jahilo was the charge d’affaires ad interim in London and from 2000-2004 the ambassador to Norway and Iceland. From 2004-2007 Peep Jahilo served as the director general of the Foreign Ministry’s internal audit department. From 2004-2009 he was the Estonian ambassador to Albania, residing in Tallinn and Athens. From 2007-2009 Jahilo was the ambassador to Greece and Cyprus. Since 2009 Peep Jahilo has been working as an undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry.

DEFENCE NEWS

USA to Join NATO Cyber Defence Centre

4 December - Defence Minister Jaak Aaviksoo met yesterday with his American colleague Robert Gates, who announced the USA’s decision to join the NATO Co-operative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn. According to Defence Minister Jaak Aaviksoo, the US joining the Cyber Defence Centre gives an important boost to the development of the centre and also to other countries joining. “Cyber security is a central security matter of the 21st century. The Cyber Defence Centre founded in Estonia is becoming an acknowledged leader in the field and we are proud of that,” noted Aaviksoo.
Aaviksoo and Gates also discussed the outcome of the Lisbon summit, the new strategic concept of NATO and the operation in Afghanistan. According to Aaviksoo, the security of the US and Europe are closely related and transatlantic co-operation has ensured peace in Europe for more than 60 years. “Continuing this co-operation with a US military presence is definitely in Estonia’s interests,” said Aaviksoo.
During the meeting, the importance of each NATO member allocating 2% of the GDP to defence funding was also stressed.

Defence Minister Aaviksoo Met With Finnish Colleague

5 December - Defence Minister Jaak Aaviksoo participated yesterday with his Finnish colleague Jyri Häkämies in a ceremony dedicated to the Estonian veterans who fought in the Finnish Armed Forces. The ministers also discussed matters regarding defence co-operation between the two countries.
Aaviksoo and Häkämies participated in a ceremony in the National Library of Estonia held in the honour of the “Finland boys”. Total of 3 400 Estonian soldiers fought in the Finnish armed forces during World War II.
At a meeting after the ceremony, Aaviksoo and Häkämies discussed matters regarding the new strategic concept of NATO, the defence co-operation between Estonia and Finland, and the operation in Afghanistan.
“Estonians and Finns have fought in arms for each other’s freedom. The help of Finland has been invaluable in building our present-day defence capability and our defence cooperation sets an example for tightening the Nordic-Baltic co-operation,” said Aaviksoo after the meeting.

Estonian Parliament Extends Troops’ Missions to Kosovo, Bosnia

8 December (BNS) - Estonian lawmakers passed on Wednesday three resolutions that extend till the end of next year the participation of the Defence Forces in missions to Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina and allow Estonia to take part in operations of the Nordic Battle Group of the European Union.
The parliament gave a mandate for assigning up to 55 military personnel to the Nordic Battle Group from 1 January until 31 December 2011.
The resolutions concerning Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina provide for contributing up to three troops to the NATO-led international peacekeeping force KFOR in the former and to the EU's peacekeeping mission in the latter.
The parliament has on its agenda three more bills that propose to extend till the end of next year also the Defence Forces' participation in missions to Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East.
The bills that will probably be put to the final vote next week will extend the mission of up to 170 soldiers in the composition of the NATO-led security assistance force in Afghanistan, the participation of up to three soldiers in the NATO training mission in Iraq, and the participation of up to three soldiers in the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, Israel, Egypt and Syria until 31 December 2011.

ECONOMIC NEWS

IMF Recognises Estonian Budget Policy, Points Out External Risk Factors

9 December (BNS) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) at its Thursday meeting with Estonian Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi recognised Estonia's budget policy and pointed out external risks, the Finance Ministry said.
IMF continues to be relatively optimistic concerning the restoration of Estonia's economic growth, above all drawing attention to external risks, the debt crisis of the euro zone and the possible effect of mother banks' toughening financing policy, the ministry said.
The IMF recognised Estonia for its continuing conservative budget policy and found it important to restore the reserves to the pre-crisis level in order to ensure that the country would manage also in the future. In case of faster than expected economic growth Estonia should set aside possible additional revenues, letting the automatic stabilizers, which also make fiscal policy more anti-cyclic, to be expressed as well as possible on the revenues side. It is necessary to take into consideration that achievement of pre-crisis economic growth is not very likely in the medium term.
"We fully agree that it is the buffers that permit us to safely meet the cooling of the environment. It is necessary to keep budgetary expenditures under control also in good times. The key issue is the quality of expenditures. Our and IMF's understandings of fiscal policy coincide. We received confirmation to what we have been doing and to the plans of restoring reserves. The precondition here, however, is a well thought-out and prudent planning of expenditures by everyone," Finance Minister Ligi said in comment.
The IMF mission is headed by Alexander Hoffmaister.

Wedmedia Keeps Second Place in Baltic IT Services Market

3 December (BNS) - In the first half of this year, the Estonian Webmedia Group kept its second position in the scoreboard of the Baltic countries' top IT companies compiled by the investment bank Prime Investment.
Webmedia Group's revenue from IT services was 6.9 million euros in the first half of 2010, down by 4% year-on-year, it appears from the rankings. CEO Priit Alamäe said the decrease can be partly attributed to the large number of U.S. dollar-denominated long-term contracts and the weakening of the dollar. In addition, the year got off to a slow start in all segments.
The subsidiary of the U.S. Exigen Services in Riga stayed at the top of the rankings. It saw six-month revenues contract by 13% year-on-year to 8.6 million euros. The Baltic Data Centre of the Lithuanian Teo Group placed third with revenues of 6.3 million euros which marks an improvement of 22% compared to the same period last year.
The Estonia-registered Santa Monica Networks Group continued rising in the rankings, climbing from seventh to fifth and increasing the revenue from IT services by 22% on annual comparison, to 4.3 million euros. According to earlier information the company boosted revenue last year by 30% to 7.8 million euros. Santa Monica Networks Group kept actively promoting sale of its services throughout 2009 and is now seeing the results, the survey observes.
Of other Estonian companies, Net Group saw six-month revenues grow by 24 % year-on-year to 900 000 euros whereas the revenues of Uptime shrank by 44.6% to 648 000 euros.
The authors of the survey note that Estonia is the only Baltic state where programmers' average wages surpass the average salary of financial sector employees which are respectively 2 000 euros and 1 500 euros a month.
Webmedia Group is an international software development group with headquarters in Tallinn and offices in several European and Middle Eastern countries.
Compiled since 2002, the Prime Investment scoreboard ranks leading Baltic IT companies by their revenues from IT services as reported by the firms.

Port of Tallinn’s Jan-Nov Passenger Numbers Surpass Previous Years’ Results

3 December (BNS) - A total of 7.3 million passengers passed through ports of Estonia's state-owned Tallinna Sadam (Port of Tallinn) in the first 11 months of this year which is more than during all the 12 months in previous years. The 11-month passenger number increased by 8.4% on annual comparison. In the year 2009 Tallinna Sadam served 7.26 million passengers, an all-time record. Cargo throughput in November totalled 2.91 million tons, up by 12.7% year-on-year.
In the period of January to November, ports of Tallinna Sadam handled 33.187 million tons of freight, an increase of 16.5% compared to the same period last year.
Goods in transit made up 26.64 million tons, Estonian exports 2.95 million tons and imports into Estonia 3.53 million tons of the 11-month goods flows.
Of the 7.3 million passengers served during the same period, 6.1 million travelled between Tallinn and Helsinki and 790 300 on the Tallinn-Stockholm route. Cruise passengers numbered 391 600.
Ports of Tallinna Sadam served 1 975 freight and 4 731 passenger ships in the 11 months.

CULTURAL NEWS

Stars, Press Descend on Tallinn for European Film Awards

4 December (ERR) - The eyes of the continent's film buffs were on Tallinn as the city hosted the 23rd European Film Awards Gala on 4 December.
The ceremony, which took place in the Nokia Concert Hall in the downtown Solaris Centre, was attended by around 1 400 guests, including members of the European Film Academy, nominees and past winners. The awards ceremony was hosted by Estonian actor Märt Avandi and German comedic actress Anke Engelke.
Among the evening’s distinguished film guests were Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, recipient of the EFA Lifetime Achievemnt Award. Another honorary award, European Film Academy Achievement in World Cinema 2010, was presented to composer Gabriel Yared, who was also in Tallinn for a special film music concert with the Brussels Philharmonic. Actress Juliette Binoche was one of the presenters during the ceremony.
The annual gala rotates between Berlin and another European city each year. Tallinn was chosen to host this year's event in connection with its status as European Capital of Culture in 2011.