* The Republic of Estonia was founded on 24 February 1918. This year Estonia will celebrate the 88th anniversary of the declaration of state independence. Estonian ambassador to China Mait Martinson accepted a written interview by People's Daily Online recently.
1. Achievements made in development and foreign relations over more than a decade since regaining independence.
Since Estonia regained its independence, Estonia has chosen a path of participation and contribution in its foreign policy. A constant drive towards closer integration with its partners through different development and cooperation stages has led to long pursued goal: as of 1 May 2004, Estonia became a member of the European Union (EU). Estonia became a NATO member state on 29 March 2004.
The same year saw Estonia's closer multilateral integration with Asian partners by joining ASEM and ASEF processes. On a recent International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza, held in Beijing last month, Estonia was among pledging nations.
Estonia is a trading nation. In the mid 90'ies, the EU became Estonia's major trading partner. That partnership has been laid down on a solid legal base, what helped the country to reach another important milestone - the accession to the WTO in 1999.
This way Estonia has joined almost all relevant financial and economic institutions for its development and closer integration to the global society.
How was it accomplished ?
Estonia may be a compact country, but it has a great deal to offer to foreign investors or international businesspeople. Located in the heart of the Baltic Sea Region, Europe's fastest-growing market with 90 million people, Estonia itself has been among the fastest-growing economies in the region.
The country has some of the most liberal trade and investment laws in the world. The Wall Street Journal's Index of Economic Freedom for 2005 rates Estonia 4th in the world in terms of ease of doing business, right behind China's Hong Kong, Singapore and Luxembourg. An extra advantage is Estonia's system of low, flat rate taxes. To encourage companies to expand their business all reinvested profits have been exempted of corporate income tax. However, any redistributed profits, for example dividends, are taxed at 23%.
Foreign investment has played a key role in ........
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