During their meeting in Helsinki, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb agreed that when Nordic and Baltic countries have candidacies for UN organs, the nations of the regions should unite and support the same candidates.
Paet and Stubb confirmed that Estonia-Finland relations are good and strong and mentioned their recent joint visit to Syria and Lebanon as an example of close co-operation. Paet made a proposal to his Finnish colleague to work together closely when applying for candidacy in international organisations. “When we have a candidacy for, for example, a UN organ, the Nordic and Baltic countries should join forces in order to achieve their goals and provide greater support for the candidate,” noted the Estonian foreign minister.
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet emphasised that in order to use the funds allocated for economic recovery in Europe by the European Union in March, we must move forward quickly with the Estlink 2 project. “Estonia has accepted the responsibility of opening its markets, and by the beginning of next year the market will in reality be 35% open. The Estonian electric market will be 100% open by 2013,” Paet stated. “If preliminary work on the Estlink 2 project would be underway soon, it would be possible to use the 100 million euros allocated in the European Economic Recovery Plan to establish the Estlink 2 sea cable and get the cable working by the beginning of 2014,” Paet said, stressing that Estonia would like to be a part of a common Nordic-Baltic electricity market.
The foreign ministers also discussed issues related to European Union enlargement. Paet stated that the delays in enlargement are discouraging. “Current developments suggest that it is likely that no chapters will be opened with either Croatia or Turkey before the end of June,” Paet said. “Neither accession negotiations nor the preparation of candidate countries should be stopped,” he emphasised. Paet and Stubb expressed support for Iceland’s plans to accede to the European Union.
The ministers also addressed trade relations with Russia. “In terms of trade, it would be very welcome if Russia were to join the World Trade Organisation,” stated Paet.
The Estonian and Finnish foreign ministers both feel it is important for the Baltic Sea Region Strategy to be approved by the European Union during Sweden’s upcoming presidency.
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