BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Tallinn "Tech University" opens Silicon Valley office

Tallinn University of Technology is opening an office in Silicon Valley hoping to strengthen ties with the Stanford and Berkley universities, and with local information technology firms.

The new office will reside amongst many successful companies in the heart of California’s IT hub. “That’s what brought the university here. We are interested in large IT firms like Microsoft, Google, Adobe, Intel, IBM – companies that we have talked to, and with whom we want to work with,” tells Alar Kolk, University Vice President.

The office shares its building with Enterprise Estonia, the Estonian government’s support system for entrepreneurship. The two Estonian organisations will be working closely together. The focus of the program will be IT, biotechnology, and medicine. The university president said having a foreign office isn’t a cheap undertaking but the school is hoping for government support to cover expenses.

University officials also plan to open a Shanghai office in 6 months. “We hope to attract master’s and doctor’s students from the US and China. The university is rapidly internationalising – we already have 1 000 international students. And close to 100 professors and researches from abroad. This is the trend in today’s world, and we cannot afford to get left behind,” said Andres Keevallik, University President.

 

Estonia's air quality is the best in the world !

Canadians breathe easier than most people in the world, ranking third in an-air quality index released by the World Health Organization on Monday.

Estonia topped the list with the best air quality, Mauritius ranked second, and Canada tied with Australia for third.

The global health body on Monday released its list of measurements ranking 1,100 cities in 91 countries. The list is intended to highlight the need to reduce outdoor air pollution, which is estimated to cause 1.34 million premature deaths each year.

Tiny particles do big damage

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said the air quality in all cities is affected by combination of four main factors: private transport, power generation, indoor combustion of fuels, and industry.

He cautioned that the data is better examined at the city-level, as some countries have many more measuring stations. Although Mongolia is ranked lowest on the list of countries, it only has one station — in the capital Ulaanbaatar — whereas a large country like Canada has several stations.

Estonia will help Greece to build up e-state

Estonian economy minister Juhan Parts discussed possibilities of reducing corruption and bureaucracy in Greece with the help of Estonian information and communications technology (ITC) with Greek administrative reform and e-government deputy minister Pantelis Tzortsakis on Monday, the ministry said.

Parts said that when building up e-state, it is important to observe every state’s peculiarities and create solutions in line with needs.

“It is not reasonable to start inventing a bicycle but share universal solutions with each other. Many solutions that are only talked about in the rest of the world are in everyday use in Estonia,” said Parts.

Tzortsakis said that Greece uses several modern solutions but many systems are built upon old principles which is why administering them is costly. He pointed out eID and X-tee as solutions that Greece would be interested to adopt.

On September 9, Estonia and Greece signed a memorandum of reciprocal help that focuses on the cooperation of the two states to reduce corruption and bureaucracy in the ICT sphere.

Juhan Tere

Estonia must learn to deal with Putin

Centre Party chairman and Mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar says that he was not surprised to learn that Vladimir Putin was put forward as candidate for the next president of Russia.

“Estonia must learn to deal with Putin,” said Savisaar, speaking from Moscow where he attended the congress of United Russia.

“Russia is Estonia’s neighbour and it has been clear for some time that Putin is the No. 1 man in Russia,” said Savisaar. 

At the congress, current president Dmitri Medvedev proposed Putin for the president, while Putin offered him the job of the prime minister. ERR

Marko Mihkelson who is chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs says that if Putin were to be elected the next president of Russia, it would change little in its foreign policy towards Estonia.

When asked what Putin’s presidency could mean for Estonia, Mihkelson said: “For Estonia, little. I don’t see that there could be major changes in Russia’s foreign policy. But what can be assumed is that Moscow will be attempting to increase its influence especially within the CIS framework. But one worrying aspect is that Putin is seeing army as the backbone for modernising Russia. “But it is equally clear that in the next decade Russian leaders will be facing considerably bigger challenges at home than in foreign policy,” he concluded

Toomas Hõbemägi

Eesti Energia takes a loan of 500 mln EUR

Estonian state-owned energy giant Eesti Energia announced that it concluded bilateral loan agreements with five banks for three years on loans amounting to 500 million euros, LETA/Postimees Online reports.

The five banks are Swedbank, SEB, Nordea, Pohjola Bank and Danske Bank.

Eesti Energia said that it will use the loans to finance its ordinary business activities and improve liquidity position.

Representatives of 142 ethnic nationalities live in Estonia

On 24 September Nations Day will be celebrated in Estonia

Representatives of 142 ethnic nationalities live in Estonia

According to Statistics Estonia, by the data of the last, 2000 Population Census, five bigger ethnic groups and over a hundred representatives of various ethnic nationalities live in Estonia.

Ten population censuses have been conducted on the territory of Estonia, the first of which was carried out in 1881. During the five generations, Estonians have been ethnic majority in Estonia. During the first Population Census, Germans and Russians were the most numerous ethnic minorities, accounting for correspondingly 5% and 3% of the population (nearly 47,000 and 29,000). During the next Population Census in 1897, the share of Germans had decreased below 4% and the decline continued also during the next censuses. At the same time the share of Russians in population increased and reached its peak during the 1989 Population Census, when Russians accounted for 30% of the population in Estonia.

Estonians, Russians and other ethnic nationalities, 1881–2010

Help comes to Finland from Estonia

Many Estonians do not manage with either joblessness or low wages at their homeland, and flee to work in Finland, Helsinki region has been especially popular, Helsingin Sanomat writes in a Friday edition. Estonians are not easy to pick out in a crowd in Finland, and many of them speak excellent Finnish, as the article says.

At construction sites, in buses, and in cleaning firms there are significant numbers of Estonians: and in hospitals as well. With increasing frequency Estonians can be seen driving taxis, or working in restaurants and shops. Highly educated Estonians have also applied for positions in Finland requiring expertise.

Helsingin Sanomat mentions a lady – Maia Lillepöld – the 60-year-old nurse, who works three or four weeks in Finland and then goes to Estonia for a week. She feels no comfort during her out-of-work days in Finland, because she would rather spend them in Estonia, writes LETA.

In 2004 Maia Lillepöld worked as the director of a dairy in Kuressaare, after loosing her job in 2004, she acquired new profession and moved to Finland. Lillepöld plans to work in Finland for four more years, when she plans to retire and move back to Saaremaa.

There are no precise statistics on Estonians working in Finland. Some people live in Finland on a more or less temporary basis; however, in some sectors, for example, construction many laborers come to work from Tallinn every week and get pay from an Estonian company.

Tallinn decides to drop controversial boat tax

The Tallinn city council decided at its session on Thursday to abolish the controversial boat tax, LETA/National Broadcasting reports.

The boat tax was introduced in 2010, when the city intended to collect 10 million kroons of it. Unfortunately just 68,000 kroons of the tax was collected. In this year’s budget the city hoped to collect 100,000 kroons or 6391.16 euros but by the beginning of September, none of the tax had been collected.

The Riigikogu decided in September last year that local municipalities don’t have the right to introduce sales tax and boat tax starting January 1, 2012.

Estonian veterans mark 67th liberation of Tallinn from Nazis

In Estonia Second World War veterans mark the 67th anniversary of liberation of Tallinn from Nazis. The veterans are to lay wreaths and flowers to the Bronze Soldier monument at the military cemetery in Tallinn.

At present, more than 8,000 veterans reside in Estonia and 3,000 of them live in the capital of Tallinn. On Thursday, Estonia also marks the day of the national resistance to the Soviet troops, which drove Nazi occupants from the republic.

 

Tallinn stock market has lost a third of its value in 2011

The Tallinn bourse and companies listed there have fallen through 2011 year’s bottoms, prices have fallen to the levels of 2009 and 2010 and what was one of the world’s best bourse slats year has entered strong bear market, LETA/Äripäev writes.

Last year, the Tallinn bourse was one of the best bourses in the world, gaining around 70% in a year. Since the start of this year, Nasdaq OMXT index has fallen 21.72%, but if we compared it to the peak of 2011, the fall is even 30.15%.

Äripäev says that the bourse has entered the so-called bear market where investors prefer to sell stocks in fear of bigger losses, even though in ratios, the shares of bourse-listed shares are at the cheapest levels of several years.

“We estimate that a large part of shares that we cover are really valued too low,” commented Swedbank’s Baltic stock analysts manager Marek Randma. “We cover 17 companies in the Baltics now and have issued a “buy” recommendation to a whole 9.”

“All in all we can say that the prices of shares seem attractive but due to general market trend and emotions of investors we can see even more favourable possible purchase places,” said Swedbank Baltic stock analyst Risto Hunt.

Juhan Tere

Estonian Government approves alcohol-tax increase from January

Estonia’s government agreed to raise alcohol taxes from January to keep the budget deficit within European Union rules.

Alcohol tax rates will be raised by 5 percent to boost revenue by about 10 million euros ($13.4 million), according to an e-mailed statement from Prime Minister Andrus Ansip’s office. The increase must be approved by parliament as part of a budget that targets a 2.1 percent deficit in 2012 after an expected surplus this year.

Next year’s shortfall is mainly due to spending the proceeds from selling spare United Nations carbon permits, which Estonia is required to do by the end of 2012, Finance Minister Juergen Ligi told a news conference in Tallinn today. 

Ott Ummelas

Even in France, these days, one cannot buy 90° proof alcohol any longer ... Where are we going?

Only the new "kid on the block", Estonia, outperformed Ireland

The Irish economy grew by 1.6pc in the second quarter compared with the previous one, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show. And the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, which includes the value of goods produced by multinationals, is the highest since the last quarter of 2007.

Excluding multinationals, Gross National Product grew by 1.1pc.

On an annual basis, GDP growth was 2.3pc and GNP 1.1pc.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan said the figures clearly showed a recovery is underway, despite the slowdown in the world economy.“The increase in activity is being led by the exporting sectors of the economy,” he said.

“This, in no small part, reflects the significant improvement in competitiveness that has taken place in recent years and is testament to the flexibility of our economy.”

However, he also warned that there are a lot of uncertainties because as a small, export led economy, Ireland is particularly susceptible to slowdowns or improvements in other countries. “As we saw yesterday, the International Monetary Fund has revised down its global growth projections for this year and next,” he added. “Updated forecasts for the period 2011-15, will be published by the Department of Finance in the pre-budget outlook in October and these will take account of the latest domestic and international data.”

Estonia Government backs plan for high-speed rail link to Latvia

Estonia’s government approved plans to build a high-speed rail link to Latvia under the Rail Balticaproject that would link the region to Poland and western Europe.

Estonia expects to start investment in 2018-2019 after the government approved a feasibility study by U.K.-based consultant AECOM, Economy Minister Juhan Parts told a news conference today in the capital Tallinn. Estonia will seek financing from the European Union’s next budget in 2014, he added.

“We should concentrate on building as many physical connections with western Europe as possible,” Prime Minister Andrus Ansip told the same news conference. Lithuanian Premier Andrius Kubilius and Latvia’s Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis both support the project, he added.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- three former Soviet Baltic republics -- have sought to align themselves with Europe after the fall of communism 20 years ago, joining the EU in 2004. They are seeking to bolster road, rail and energy connections with the 27-nation bloc after they exited recessions in 2008-2009.

Estonia’s state-owned Eesti Raudtee rail company plans to create a joint venture with its Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts to develop the project, Parts said.

Ott Ummelas

 

Estonia way behind Latvia, Lithuania in Internet download speed

A new study carried out by Pando Networks shows that Estonia is doing poorly in terms of Internet download speed, being below average worldwide and way behind other countries in the region.

South Korea has the world's top Internet download speeds at 2,202 kbps, followed by Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia. Estonia was also behind Finland and Russia.

The slowest average download speed was recorded in the Congo at 13 KBps.

"The disparities we found were striking," said Pando Networks chief executive Robert Levitan. "While, in general, developed economies outpaced the developing world in average download speeds, big names such as the US, UK, France, China and Canada were not even close to being the fastest," explained Levitan.

 Toomas Hõbemägi

 

Estonian employers reject ministry plan to consolidate reserves

An employers’ lobby rejected a proposal to consolidate reserves of the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund under the management of the State Treasury, claiming the fund could become unable to fulfill its tasks.

The Finance Ministry said this month it plans to consolidate the management of all assets of state institutions under the Treasury from 2012, eliminating the government’s need to borrow elsewhere by 2015.

The fund’s assets could be transferred to the Treasury only if the parties involved sign a loan agreement which would require negotiations between the board of the fund and the Finance Ministry, as well as amending the unemployment insurance law, the council of the Estonian Employers’ Confederation said in an e-mailed statement today.

Consolidating reserves under the Treasury would cut the planned state debt to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product by 2015 from an April forecast of 11.8 percent, the ministry said Sept. 7. Estonia had the lowest level of public debt in the 27-member European Union last year, at 6.6 percent of GDP. 

Ott Ummelas

 

Seven in ten Estonian households have internet at home

In Estonia seven in ten households had internet connection at home in the first quarter of 2011, most of the connections being broadband connections, Statistics Estonia said on Friday.

The percentage of households with internet connection has increased somewhat every year during the last five years.
Of the country's households 71 percent had internet connection at home and 66 percent had broadband connection, ratios that were respectively three percentage points and two percentage points higher than a year ago.

It is not unusual for a household to have multiple internet connections. Mobile internet connection has become more popular in recent years and this year every sixth household used only mobile connection or had mobile internet as an additional possibility for going online.

Almost all households with children and two or more adults had internet connection at home, whereas of households made up of a single adult only one in two had it. The percentage of internet users decreases with age. Almost all persons aged 16–34 used computer and internet, compared to half of persons aged 55–64 and a quarter of persons aged 65–74.

In 2011 also the use of public sector e-services and satisfaction with the services was surveyed. Less than 2 percent of internet users were not aware of any e-services of public authorities.

Ansip confirms 4.4% pension increase in Estonia in 2012

Estonian prime minister Andrus Ansip said in the Riigikogu inquiries hour on Wednesday that pensions will increase 4.4% in 2012 since none of the government members opposed to it, LETA/Postimees Online reports.

“Estonia can afford a 4.4% pension increase next year. And good growth allows hoping that pension growth in the following years will be bigger than in 2012,” said Ansip.

This year the governments set the pension index value at 1.0, meaning that pensions were unchanged from last year. The index will not fall below 1.

The last time pensions increased was in 2009, by 5%.

Juhan Tere

Two suspects shot dead as hunt for kidnappers heats up

TALLINN - Two suspects have been shot dead in Lebanon as the hunt for the men who kidnapped 7 Estonian cyclists earlier this year intensifies.

The two men, Mohammad Zarifi and Kinaan Yassin, were killed by Lebanese security forces in a midnight shootout on Sept. 20 in eastern Bekaa, Lebanese media reported.

It is the second shootout to take place Bekaa in under a week as police close in on the kidnappers. In that case, one person was wounded and one escaped capture.

Also earlier this week security forces investigating the case came under fire, but there were no injuries reported.

It is still unclear whether any ransom was paid for the hostages and what the motivation may have been for the kidnapping. All seven cyclists were released unharmed after being held for four months.

The seven men were abducted at gunpoint on March 23 near Zahle, Lebanon's third largest city, shortly after crossing over the border from Syria. Two videos were subsequently released in which they pleaded for help.

National Opera sets sights on Linnahall

The National Opera has come out in support of a recent proposition to move the Estonia Concert Hall to Linnahall, a dilapidated former sports and concert arena that sits on Tallinn's coastline.

The current Estonia Concert Hall, dating from 1913, loses out on big productions every year because the building's stage is half the size of foreign opera houses, the opera's director, Aivar Mäe, told ETV.

"We are the last nation in the Baltic Sea shoreline to not have a proper opera house," said Mäe. "If the Linnahall investment project does not work out, since the economy isn't stellar in either the US or here, then we could do something very positive on a state level with that colossus.“

The city could provide the property and the state the investment, he proposed.

Originally built for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, the now decaying Linnahall functioned as a concert hall, night club, rental office space and ice skating center before closing in 2009.

In 2010, the city government announced that it had struck a deal with Tallinn Entertainment LLC, a company founded by Ronald S. Lauder, CEO of cosmetics giant Estee Lauder, to develop the facility. However, more than a year later signs of construction have yet to materialize.

On September 8, City Council Reform faction leader Õnne Pillak sent an open letter to Taavi Aas, deputy mayor of the Centre Party-controlled city government, demanding that the status of negotiations with the project's US partners be made public.

Ott Tammik

 

Estonia and Russia signed a readmission agreement for illegal immigrants

On September 19th, the implementing protocol for the readmission agreement was signed between Estonia and Russia in the Estonian embassy in Moscow, writes LETA/Postimees Online.

The agreement involves bilateral co-operation between Estonia and Russia in readmitting foreigners to their country of citizenship or of residence.

“During the past few years, the number of illegal immigrants has grown and hence the existence of the implementing protocol that defines the activities of both countries’ authorities is increasingly important,” said the Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in charge of internal security Erkki Koort. He noted that signing of the implementing protocol was a positive step in the relations between Estonia and Russia.

Estonia started negotiations over the text of the implementing protocol with Russia in May 2008.

On Russia’s behalf, the protocol was signed by the Deputy Director of Russia’s Federal Migration Service Nikolai Smorodin.

Juhan Tere