BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Tallink's new green Superstar goes disposable

By Sami Takala in Helsinki and Tallinn
      
      The Estonian shipping company Tallink’s brand new high-speed vessel, the M/S Superstar, started operating on the Helsinki-Tallinn route yesterday - Monday, after having arrived at its home port in Tallinn from the Italian Fincantieri shipyard last Wednesday.
      
The M/S Superstar is a new generation high-speed vessel that travels at a speed of 27.5 knots, which enables it to cover the distance between Tallinn and Helsinki in two hours, regardless of weather conditions, Tallink declares.
      Together with its sister ship Star, delivered in the spring of 2007, the new M/S Superstar will operate as the Tallink Shuttle service, a new passenger service concept combining fast and comfortable travel between the two capital cities.
      
According to Tallink, the bright green colour of its Shuttle vessels characterizes the environmental aspects of the ships. Both vessels consume less fuel, have modern technical solutions, and create much smaller waves compared to the smaller high-speed craft making the crossing.
      However, disposable plates and cups are being used in all restaurants and cafés, except in the à la carte restaurant and business lounge.
      Tallink’s Communications Manager Luulea Lääne explains that the use of disposables is part of the fast food restaurant concept.
      ”Nobody is wondering why people eat from paperboard boxes at McDonald’s, are they ?” argues Lääne, saying that the amount of daily waste aboard the M/S Superstar and other similar ships is some 7.5 cubic metres.

Carmen Kass & Jonas Mekas honored by U.S Baltic Foundation

***Carmen Kass was honored by the U.S.-Baltic Foundation at the USBF Gala Awards in Washington D.C last week.

Carmen was awarded a Baltic Image Enhancement Award. Filmaker Jonas Mekas, founder of the Film-Makers Cooperative was awarded with a Baltic Cultural Achievement Award.

Mekas once wrote : “Warhol seems to have incorporated all the transitoriness of things into his very aesthetics, and that’s why it seems to me that his cinema is really about the transitoriness of the medium and the transitory state of all things. About the transitoriness of all existence and all art.”

Ansip : Above all, a small country can offer trust to its foreign partners ..

Roosta – On April 21st, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip gave a speech at the Higher National Defence Course held for the 18th time in Roosta, where he stressed the importance of trust in the defence policy of a country.

When talking about the significant tasks of the Estonian national defence, the head of the government pointed out foreign missions. “It is very important for a small country to participate in international missions. With this, we show our dedication to the collective defence principle,” said the Prime Minister. He added: “During the period of restoration of independence, we have received a lot of help from our Western partners. Now that Estonia is ready to provide help on security, it is our moral duty to do so,” Ansip said.

The Prime Minister also noted that the country must fulfil its international promises, which, considering the drafting of the current negative state budget, would mean keeping the defence expenses at 1.8% of GDP. “A small country does not have much to give but trust, and promises must be kept,” said the Prime Minister.

When recalling the discussions on the foreign missions of the Alliance at the NATO summit, the Prime Minister stressed that Estonia supports the improvement of military and civil cooperation in mission regions, by all means. “It is not possible to make a difference in Afghanistan by military means alone, and it has not been attempted, either. The members of the Alliance have also invested in building the civil structure of the country, but the proportion of these investments must increase,” said the Prime Minister.

Since 1999, the Ministry of Defence has been organising Higher National Defence Courses for the managers of public, private and non-profit sector organisations with the purpose of establishing a clear picture of the aspects of security and defence policy. Almost 800 people have passed the courses.
_____________________________________
Valitsuse kommunikatsioonibüroo briifinguruum
http://www.valitsus.ee/brf 
[email protected] 

Estonian central bank more than halves 2008 growth forecast to 2% !

But I rather feel somehow that it isn´t the end of it ....

TALLINN - The Estonian central bank more than halved its 2008 economic growth forecast to 2.0 percent on Wednesday, citing fears of a global slowdown and national factors, notably high inflation.

The move by the bank, which had been forecasting gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.4 percent this year, followed a downgrade by the finance ministry.

The ministry two weeks ago slashed its forecast by nearly a third from 5.2 percent to 3.7 percent, on similar grounds.

Both cuts are the latest sign of rising jitters in the Baltic state, which has enjoyed years of robust economic growth since independence from the crumbling Soviet bloc in 1991.

Last year, the country's GDP grew 7.1 percent, after a national record of 11.2 percent in 2006 which was also the second-best rate in the entire EU.

'The Estonian economy is cooling faster than expected,' the central bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

'This has been caused by a less supportive external environment, which has brought slower external demand growth and a rise in commodity and food prices, as well as an increase in risk margins,' it said.

'In addition, the increasing uncertainty and high inflation have reduced domestic demand.'

Back ... !

.... after 10 days from some unexpected trip abroad, I shortly will be able to keep you informed again on all events in our country.

Meanwhile, enjoy May the 1st and the terrific weather .... Don´t envy Nice, I was there and it was cooler ... !

Shaan

Eurasian Secret Services daily review

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1535

REVIEW TOPICS :
Accused German linked to spy flap, Russian agent’s whereabouts unclear
Belarus KGB transfers detained US lawyer to state psychiatric hospital
Students offered Belarusian KGB head to play toys, not human destinies
Latvian parliament re-appoints Janis Kazocins as Constitution Protection Bureau chief for next term
Russian Defence Ministry not yet received any request from Chechen parliament regarding dismissal of Vostok commander

Accused German linked to spy flap, Russian agent’s whereabouts unclear

A German citizen charged with selling sensitive technology information to Russia is a key figure in a mysterious spy case involving a former Federal Space Agency official that jarred Russian-Austrian relations last year, The Moscow Times reports.
AIA reported last week that German authorities had charged a 44-year-old native of Bavaria with passing sensitive documents to “a member of a Russian intelligence service.”

Estonia adds to Woolfest

STUDENTS from Estonia will exhibit their own designs at this year’s Woolfest in Cockermouth.

A group of girls from the Leisi School, on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, sheared the sheep, made the yarn and knitted their own designs in preparation for the west Cumbrian event.

Youngsters from Cumbria will join the Estonian visitors on the catwalk for the fashion show.

June Hall, of the Wool Clip co-operative which organises Woolfest, said: “I have been working with historians and crafts people in Estonia and Lithuania since 2001.

“They have rediscovered their indigenous breed of short-tailed sheep and are reinventing their traditional craft skills using wool from these sheep in an attempt to preserve them.”

The Wool Clip is a Cumbria-based co-operative of sheep farmers, spinners and wool workers, which was set up to add value to local wool.

In its fourth year, Woolfest will be held on June 27 and 28 at Mitchell’s Lakeland Livestock Centre.

Ausra Kaveckiene, a designer from northern Lithuania, will display her latest wool collection and other exhibitors will travel from Norway, Finland and France.

There will also be wool experts from around the world. A new feature at this year’s Woolfest will be an auction of knitted sheep, with all proceeds going to Farm Africa – an international aid project to create sustainable farms.

For further details call 00 44 16974 78707 or see www.woolfest.co.uk

Moscow move on Georgia "provocative" : Estonia

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON - Russia may have seen NATO's recent refusal to put Georgia on a fast track to membership as a green light for its "provocative" move to strengthen ties with separatists in Georgia, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said on Friday.

Ilves, whose Baltic nation, like Georgia, was once part of the Soviet Union, praised Tbilisi for staying calm after a decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordering his government to set up legal links with neighboring Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"The Russian decree we think is provocative, counterproductive and ultimately wrong," Ilves, currently on a visit to the United States, said in an interview with Reuters after meetings with Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Estonia goes cyber "thanks" to occupation

In cooperation with BNS

DUBLIN – Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said in Dublin on Tuesday that Estonia became an e-country “thanks” to the Soviet occupation lasting nearly 50 years.

"When Estonian independence was restored in 1991, there was nothing to be done with the structures that the occupation regime left behind. Many of the features that are characteristic of normal countries, such as banks, were totally missing," Ilves said in his presentation at the Institute of European Affairs.

The foundation for Estonia's e-revolution was the “internetization” schools and the development of Internet banking, he said.

In Estonia today, 66 percent of the population uses the Internet, and more than half of households have a home computer, 90 percent of which are connected to the Internet.

The audience was very interested in Estonia's experiences with conducting e-elections and in the use of ID cards, as well as the possibility of using the e-tax board environment to file tax declarations.

Estonian EU fund absorption problems

In cooperation with BNS

TALLINN - Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said today that problems may arise in regards to projects using EU support in the previous finance period.

Ansip named projects such as the 43 million kroon (EUR 2.75 mln) labor market measures plan, the EmajogiRiver catchment basin water management project worth 700 million kroons, the construction of a breakwater in the port ofTallinnfor 371 million kroons, and the Kukruse road construction project budgeted at 590 million kroons.

In his words, it is not fully certain at this point that Estonia will manage to implement those projects and use up the EU funds.

Absorption of EU support is particularly important in the present economic cooling situation where utilization of EU monies would support the economy and by bringing extra taxes into the state budget.

Estonia has until the end of 2010 to distribute the EU support of the previous financing period.

Ansip at the same time pointed out that the overall situation with the absorption of EU funds is good: the state has used 80 percent of the allocated money.

Estonia can use European aid in the sum of more than 50 billion kroons in 2007-2013.

Estonia-Russian relations improving

In cooperation with BNS

TALLINN - A year after the deadly riots over the removal of a bronze soviet monument, Russian-Estonian relations appear to be improving.

Foreign Minister Urmas Paet in an interview with the MK-Estonia daily said : "In recent months our relations have been gradually improving,"

He named an agreement on cultural cooperation signed a few months ago, as well as festivities to mark the 90th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia in Moscow as examples of further cooperation.

"I had a very good meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov, during which we talked about many things," Paet said.

The minister added that right now technical preparation of agreements between the two countries is going on, specifically mentioning agreements on rescue at sea and on social insurance.

Commenting on the increase in the number of residents taking Russian citizenship in Estonia, Paet said that he doesn't like when people who live in Estonia and have decided to stay here apply for another country's citizenship.

"It would be natural and normal if the people who live in Estonia had Estonian citizenship, and namely that is our goal," he said.

"Yes, we know that people opt for the citizenship of Russia for purely pragmatic reasons, since it is all the same whether you have an Estonian or a Russian passport -- you can travel freely in the Schengen area without a visa, use the same rights and social guarantees," he said.

Estonian central bank more than halves 2008 growth forecast to 2.0 percent

TALLINN - The Estonian central bank more than halved its 2008 economic growth forecast to 2.0 percent on Wednesday, citing fears of a global slowdown and national factors, notably high inflation.

The move by the bank, which had been forecasting gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.4 percent this year, followed a downgrade by the finance ministry.

The ministry two weeks ago slashed its forecast by nearly a third from 5.2 percent to 3.7 percent, on similar grounds.

Both cuts are the latest sign of rising jitters in the Baltic state, which has enjoyed years of robust economic growth since independence from the crumbling Soviet bloc in 1991.

Last year, the country's GDP grew 7.1 percent, after a national record of 11.2 percent in 2006 which was also the second-best rate in the entire EU.

"The Estonian economy is cooling faster than expected," the central bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

"This has been caused by a less supportive external environment, which has brought slower external demand growth and a rise in commodity and food prices, as well as an increase in risk margins," it said.

"In addition, the increasing uncertainty and high inflation have reduced domestic demand."

A growth rate of either 2.0 percent or 3.7 percent would mark Estonia's worst economic performance since 1999, when output shrank by 0.1 percent, according to figures from the central bank.

Personal debt begins to bite

Tallinn - The  fallout over the credit crunch continued as it was  revealed that personal debt in Estonia has reached new levels. A survey by Faktum & Ariko showed that 6 percent of people had significant problems repaying their loans.

This means about 60,000 people are having serious debt difficulties, a staggering amount in a country of only 1.4 million people.

The survey also revealed that 1/2 of all women and 1/3 of all men had some debt difficulties.

Ansip : the property bubble has burst

TALLINN - Prime Minister Andrus Ansip has said that the current revenue shortfall is the result of the property bubble bursting in Estonia and that, contrary to what many politicians are saying, there was no need to rush in agreeing on expenditure cuts.

“The real estate bubble has popped,” the prime minister told journalists on April 10. He said that for some time it was clear to all that the air would come out of the real estate bubble, only it was unclear how quickly.

Monument to Soviet soldiers desecrated

TALLINN - One more monument to Soviet soldiers, who died during World War II – a common grave of Soviet soldiers in the village of Kyulitse, in the southern part of the republic – has been desecrated in Estonia.

This was found out during the spring campaign for putting in order monuments and graves of the war times, held by activists of the Union of Russian Compatriots. According to Gennady Sukhov, a member of the Coordinating Council of the Union, the activists found traces of paint on the monument, with which someone tried to paint out the inscription on it.

The activists washed the monument and cleared the territory around it. The Russian consulate and the local administration were informed of the incident.

Russian CDMA operator to offer hosted BREW services

Russian CDMA operator, Sky Link is to commercially launch BREW wireless data services in 31 regions of the Russian Federation, as well as in countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eastern Europe, including Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Under the terms of the agreement, Sky Link will not only deliver BREW services to subscribers within its network of licensed territories, but also host BREW services on behalf of regional operators to deliver advanced mobile content to millions of people.

Sky Link originally launched BREW services to its subscribers in Moscow and Saint Petersburg in November 2006.

With this latest agreement, BREW data services will be launched within Sky Link's network and partner operator networks by Q3 2008 on a number of BREW devices.

“Since launching BREW in Russia in late 2006, we've had very successful results in offering data services to subscribers in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, with the popularity of non-voice data services greatly increasing in other regions of Russia,” said Gulnarah Hasianova, CEO of Sky Link.

Late-night flights on Tallinn-Stockholm route

From April 14 Estonian Air added the flight schedule late-night flights between Tallinn and Stockholm. Additional late-night flights will be operated three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Stockholm airport offers convenient transit connections to Europe, Northern America and Asia both for leisure and business travellers. Late-night flights from Stockholm will depart after the arrival of most flights from Europe to Stockholm, which will create very good late-night connections from European cities (London, Munich, Madrid, Paris, Zürich, Amsterdam, etc) to Tallinn.

Additional flights on Tallinn-Stockholm-Tallinn route

Monday, Wednesday, Friday OV667 Tallinn 21:20 Stockholm 21:40

Monday, Wednesday, Friday OV668 Stockholm 23:05 Tallinn 01:20

The additional flights will initially be operated from April 14 until June 13. If the initial period proves successful, the flights will be continued.

The additional flights will be operated by Saab 340 aircraft with a cabin configuration of 33 seats. Flights to Stockholm will be operated with one service class, light meal including sandwich and a drink is served. All flights with Saab 340 are operated by Estonian Air Regional, a 100% owned subsidiary of Estonian Air.

Narva Elektrijaamad to use oil shale with biofuel at power plant

By Staff Writer

Eesti Energia-owned electricity generating company Narva Elektrijaamad plans to use biofuel mixed with oil shale as the feedstock at one of its power stations, according to the Baltic Business Daily.

The news source reported senior company sources as saying that the power plant, at which the combination fuel is slated for use, has circulating fluidized bed technology, which can burn low combustion fuels and biofuels alongside oil shale.

An estimated 150,000 tons of oil shale is expected to be saved annually due to the use of biofuels. The Baltic power plant is a co-generation facility which uses oil shale as its primary feedstock.

Reconfiguring the power plant's furnaces for use with biofuel is reportedly the cheapest way of increasing the amount of renewable energy generated at the site, with 20MW of clean electricity produced out of a total capacity of 215MW. The use of biofuels is also expected to sustain the long-term demand for biomass feedstocks in the regional market.

Bear hit by Estonian defense minister's car

In cooperation with BNS

TALLINN – No one was injured when the official car of Estonia Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo with the minister in the back seat hit a bear on the Tallinn -Tartu road 109 kilometers from Tallinn.

The accident took place at 8:40 a.m. when the driver taking the minister from Tartu to the town of Paide and was unable to avoid hitting a large bear that had suddenly run onto the road near the Imavere road crossing.

"Aaviksoo was in the back seat of the Audi A6 at the time of the accident, had his seat belt fastened and was reading a book," said Riina Vandre, adviser to the minister.

The bear managed to cross the road to the other side after the accident but had to be shot later by hunters called to the scene.

The front of the minister's car was damaged and needs repair.

Vandre said Aaviksoo was on his way to meet with JarvaCounty governor Üllar Vahtramäe when the accident happened.

Peep Mannil, unit head at the Ministry of Environment, said road accidents involving bears were rare in Estonia.

"We have two or three bears on the average hit by a vehicle annually. In recent years accidents like this have become more frequent because the number of bears has grown," he said.

According to local law, wild animals killed in accidents belong to the local hunting society.

Maxima sales in Estonia up 55 pct in Q1

Sandra Taimre
[email protected]

Maxima LT, the biggest retailer in Baltic states announced that their revenue rose 34 pct in the first quarter on sales growth in Estonia, Bloomberg writes.

According to the Maxima headquarter in Lithuania, the sales increased to  LTL 2.3 bln (EEK 10.3 bln) from LTL 1.7 bln (EEK 7.6 bln). Sales in Estonia grew 55 pct.

Maxima runs 412 supermarkets in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Bulgaria.