Estonian Review 19-26 August 2010

FOREIGN NEWS
DEFENCE NEWS
ECONOMIC NEWS
CULTURAL NEWS

FOREIGN NEWS

Estonian FM: EU should receive observer status in Arctic Council

19 August - At his meeting in Oslo with Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Paet emphasized the importance of protecting and preserving the Arctic and proposed that the European Union should receive observer status in the Arctic Council*. “We consider it important to increase the role of the European Union in Arctic issues. Developments in polar regions are important for the countries of the world from the standpoint of assessing environmental risks and climate change. Closer cooperation would bring greater benefits for all in the field of the environment, the economy and security,” added Paet.
Paet also discussed Estonia’s imminent accession to the Eurozone with his Norwegian colleague along with developments in the Estonian economy. ”On 1 January of next year, Estonia will become the 17th member of the Eurozone. Estonia has an interest in contributing to a strong and functioning monetary union. Accession to the Eurozone is the result of our long-term economic and financial policy. Estonia’s recovery from the economic downturn has been better than expected and today we have reached positive economic growth,” said Paet.
Among other things, the good economic relations between Estonia and Norway are characterized by the relatively large trade volume. “Norwegian investments into the Estonian economy have also increased consistently since the mid-1990s,” said Paet. Norway is the country with the fourth-most investments into Estonia as of the end of 2009.
In discussions on the situation in Afghanistan, Paet said that Estonia has consistently stressed the need to develop the process of transferring security responsibility in Afghanistan. “It is very important that Afghanistan’s government play an increasingly leading role in stabilization of the security situation, reintegration, national reconciliation and implementation of reforms to promote sustainable institutional and economic development. This must take place with the continued support of the international community,” said Paet.
Paet and Støre also discussed cooperation in international organizations. The foreign ministers considered “promising” cooperation between the Baltic and Nordic countries for supporting each other’s candidates in the UN. Paet said Estonia had a high regard for Norway’s support for Estonia’s candidacy in the UN Human Rights Council 2012-2015 and considers Norway’s role to this point to be very important.

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* The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum responsible for pursuing cooperation between countries and peoples in the Arctic. The member states are Canada, Denmark along with the Faroe Islands and Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US.

Estonia to support showing of Singing Revolution movie in US schools

25 August (BNS) - The Estonian Foreign Ministry will support showing of the documentary The Singing Revolution in U.S. schools in the hopes of familiarizing close to a million schoolchildren with the story of the restoration of Estonia's independence.
The Singing Revolution will reach around 600 schools in the United States with Estonia's support, spokespeople for the ministry said.
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and James Tusty, the director of the documentary, discussed on Wednesday possibilities for cooperation to
publicize the 20th-century history and cultural heritage of Estonia.
Tusty has made a significant contribution to bringing Estonia's recent history and culture to the notice of the North American public, Paet observed.
The authors of The Singing Revolution, James and Maureen Tusty, are working on a new film about the Estonian song festival tradition.

Prison officials from Georgia tapping into Estonia's experience

24 August (BNS) - The director of Georgia's probation service and three officials from the prison service of Georgia have arrived in Estonia to look at the practices of this country's prison service.
Georgia's Probation Service Director Giorgi Tvauri and three officials dealing with matters of parole are in Estonia from Aug. 23-27, spokespeople for the Estonian Ministry of Justice said.
They will be shown how to prepare and conduct a risk assessment interview and draw up a risk assessment report. They will also be shown the system for holding court sessions by means of video conference and made familiar with the practice of permitting home visits by persons under electronic surveillance.
"Our Georgian colleagues came here first of all in order to get an overview of the releasing of convicts on parole in Estonia and of our arrangement of work in preparing materials about convicts for the court," said Rait Kuuse, deputy chief of the Estonian prison service.
Kuuse has worked in the position of regional director of Penal Reform International for Southern Caucasus based in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, where he, among other things, helped carry out a prison system reform in Georgia, spokespeople for the Estonian ministry of Justice said.

Baltic flood relief team to start working in South Moldova

25 August (BNS) - The joint flood relief team of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will be deployed in the south of the flood-ravaged Moldova.
The team, BaltFloodCombat, is still on the way to Moldova but it is already known that it will start operating in the southern region of Cantemir instead of the north as earlier announced, spokespeople for the Rescue Board said. In that region flooding has caused huge damage to infrastructure. BaltFloodCombat is expected to reach the mission area on Thursday night.
The unit consists of 19 members of whom nine - five rescue experts and four logistics experts - are from Estonia.
The rescuers took with them three powerful pumps and eight kilometers of hose to pump water from flooded areas. According to present plans the team headed by Jaanus Teearu, chief of the rescue operations service at the West Estonian regional rescue center, will stay in Moldova for 20 days.
Estonia has already allocated Moldova 54,800 EUR to eliminate the flood damage and help those affected. The sum was used to buy five sets of pumps, two rubber boats with engines and canned meat and drinking water for displaced persons.

DEFENCE NEWS

Estonia to buy over 80 used Pasi APCs from Netherlands

26 August (BNS) - Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo on Thursday informed the Cabinet about a plan to sign within a few weeks a contract with the Netherlands for the purchase of more than 80 units of Sisu XA-188 armored personnel carriers.
The minister said the acquisition of the APCs will both strengthen Estonia's defense capability as well as increase the safety of individual soldiers on the battlefield.
"Compared to the present APCs of the Estonian defense forces, the new APC offers significantly better protection for our defense forces personnel. For that reason the first new APCs should reach the Estonian defense forces personnel in Afghanistan already this year," Aaviksoo said.
Besides infantry vehicles the procurement includes medical and command vehicles. The APCs would be used to equip units of Estonia's 1st Infantry Brigade. As part of the procurement deal the APCs would undergo service and repair in the Netherlands before delivery.
Estonia stands to pay more than 300 million kroons (EUR 19.2 mln) altogether for the APCs over the period of 2011-2015 according to deliveries.

Estonian minehunter finds British warships sunk during War of Independence

23 August (BNS) - The Estonian minehunter Ugandi during an operation off the island of Saaremaa at the end of last week found the wrecks of three British warships that sank here during the Estonian War of Independence in 1918 and 1919.
The wrecks of HMS Cassandra, HMS Myrtle and HMS Gentian lie at a depth of 60-100 meters and belong to the United Kingdom under international law, military spokespeople in Tallinn said. The operation to search for the wrecks was carried out in collaboration with the Estonian Maritime Museum.
"We are confident that these are namely the UK ships that perished during the War of Independence," said the Navy's chief of staff, Cmdr. Ivo Vark. "The Ugandi searched for the ships by the final coordinates provided by the leader of the UK squadron, Adm. Alexander-Sinclair, which considering the navigation devices of the time were surprisingly precise," he said.
The commander of Ugandi, Lt. Cmdr. Villu Klesmann, said finding the wrecks would have been significantly more difficult a few years ago given that Estonia's navy ships of today are equipped with much more state-of-the-art technology than a few years ago. "Judging by sonar image we can be quite confident that the ships are namely Cassandra, Gentian and Myrtle," said Klesmann.
The light cruiser HMS Cassandra sank as a result of a mine explosion off Saaremaa on the night between Dec. 5 and 6, 1918 as the British squadron of light cruisers was on its way to support the young Republic of Estonia. Ten crew members died in the blast and the remaining 400 crew were evacuated. Completed in 1917, HMS Cassandra was on of the most modern ships of the British Navy at the time.
The HMS Myrtle and HMS Gentian struck a mine when trawling the sea on July 15, 1919. Nine crew members died, three of whom are buried in the Defense Forces Cemetery in Tallinn.
The stern of HMS Myrtle was found already in 1937 and in 2000 a memorial plaque was placed close to it during a diving operation. A documentary film about Myrtle, entitled “His Majesty’s Warship,“ was released in 2001.
Overall, Brits have lost one light cruiser, one submarine, two trawlers and eight torpedo boats here.
The arrival of the British squadron had a significant impact on the course of the War of Independence. Support from the squadron was important politically, economically and in the military sense alike.
The United Kingdom sent to Estonian waters five cruisers, nine destroyers, seven mine trawlers and one transport vessel, which besides brought weapons and ammunition for the Estonian forces fighting both Bolshevik Russia and Baltic German Landeswehr. Their presence helped to eliminate the activity of the Navy of Bolshevik Russia and garner political support for the fledgling Republic of Estonia, the newspaper said.

Estonian boat to take part in international mine clearance operation in Lithuanian waters

23 August (BNS) - The Estonian naval vessel Tasuja is about to take part in the mine countermeasures (MCM) operation Open Spirit that will start in Lithuanian waters later this week.
The Estonian naval diving support ship together with a group of divers will participate in the international exercise to be held in Lithuanian waters from Aug. 27 to Sept. 8, military spokespeople have said.
According to the Lithuanian Defense Ministry, 675 defense personnel will participate in the operation. Estonia, Latvia, Poland and France will be represented with one vessel each, Norway and Germany will send three ships and Russia, two. Belgium and Finland will send a diver unit to Open Spirit.
The Open Spirit exercise is conducted in a different Baltic country every year. During last year's operation, held in Estonian waters, 90 explosive devices were found.

ECONOMIC NEWS

Estonian FinMin raises this year's GDP growth forecast to 2.0 pct

25 August, BNS - The Estonian Finance Ministry in its fresh estimate released on Wednesday forecasts the country's economy to grow 2.0 percent this year on comparison with 2009.
In its forecast published in spring the ministry estimated the annual GDP growth rate to be one percent in 2010.
In 2011, the ministry expects the country's economy to grow 3.6 percent.
The consumer price index is estimated to grow 2.6 percent this year and 2.5 percent in 2011, according to the fresh estimate.
The unemployment rate this year is seen to reach 17.5 percent, 2 percent higher than previously speculated.
Thanks to improved tax intake and revenue from the sale of emission quotas, the budgetary deficit of Estonia is expected to improve to 1.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year. Last year's deficit was 1.7 percent.
In 2011 the deficit will expand to 1.6 percent and in 2012 to 2.3 percent of GDP. The budgetary position is expected to reach balance in 2014, according to the new estimate.

Estonian imports grow faster than exports in June

24 August (BNS) - In June Estonian exports grew by 7 percent and imports by 22 percent year-on-year at current prices, and the trade deficit grew several times, the national statistics office reports.
The biggest increases were recorded in the import of machinery and equipment, means of transport, and metals and products thereof.
Estonia exported 10.2 billion kroons' (EUR 651 mln) worth of goods at current prices in June. Imports totaled 12 billion kroons. Export increased by 0.6 billion kroons and import by 2.2 billion kroons compared to June 2009.
The trade deficit was 1.8 billion kroons, seven times bigger than in the same month last year.
Machinery and equipment accounted for the biggest share of the June exports - 21 percent, followed by mineral products (13 percent) and timber and wood products (11 percent).
June imports too were dominated by machinery and equipment (22 percent of the total) and mineral products (16 percent). Agricultural products and food accounted for 11 percent.
The main countries of destination in June were Finland (19 percent of total exports), Sweden (14 percent) and Russia (11 percent).
Exports to those three countries also grew the most on an annual comparison. A significant drop occurred in the export of mineral products to the United States.
Imports came mostly from Finland (16 percent of the total), and Germany, Latvia and Sweden (11 percent each). The biggest increase was recorded in imports from Sweden.

CULTURAL NEWS

Estonian animations at the London International Animation Festival

25 August – The London International Animation Festival, which takes place from 27 August until 5 September 2010, has invited several Estonian animators to participate in the festival’s programme. The festival programme comprises films from Kaspar Jancis, Priit and Olga Pärn, Riho Unt, Jelena Girlin, Mari-Liis Bassovskaja and Chintis Lundgren.