Estonia wants free trade agreement between Canada and EU

President Ilves, who arrived in Ottawa during a state visit to Canada, confirmed at his meetings yesterday with the leaders of the Canadian Parliament Noël A. Kinsella, Andrew Scheer and Peter Van Loan and Prime Minister Stephen Harper that Estonia sees the prompt conclusion of a free trade agreement between Canada and the European Union as indispensable. “Even without any agreements, Canada is still one of the important strategic partners for the EU, both politically and economically,” said President Ilves.

A free trade agreement between the United States of America and the EU would be a logical continuation of this agreement, enhancing the economic influence of both North America and the European Union, stated President Ilves at a lunch at the Canadian Parliament, hosted by influential Canadian politician Peter Van Loan.

Co-operation between the states and entrepreneurs of Estonia and Canada in the spheres of information communication technology and cyber security were discussed in length at the meetings between the Estonian head of state and the political leaders of Canada.

President Ilves invited Canada to join the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn. “In the cyber war – the first battles of which have already taken place – there will be no strategically bad or geographically good locations for any country. Everyone will be equally attackable or defenceless, or, vice versa, we can be defendable, if we pool together our efforts as NATO allies,” said President Ilves.

President Ilves, who yesterday flew from Ottawa to Toronto, will today speak about the future vision of the European Union at an influential economic forum, Economic Club of Canada; he will also meet with members of the Estonian-Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Estonian entrepreneurs in Canada. He will visit the IT-centred Waterloo/Kitchener technological region and the Canadian Centre of Innovation, Communitech, where he will give a public presentation on e-governance and cyber security issues. Representatives of Tallinn University of Technology and Waterloo University will sign a memorandum of co-operation there, and Estonian entrepreneurs will meet with business partners.

Source: Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Estonian minister discussed a visa issue with Thai minister

At their meeting in Bangkok, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand Surapong Tovichakchaikul discussed opportunities to intensify political contacts and economic ties between Estonia and Thailand as well as tourism co-operation, including the topic of implementing a visa waiver for all Estonian citizens.

Paet said that Estonia would like for its citizens to have the opportunity to travel to Thailand without a visa, which would help to develop economic co-operation and tourism relations. “Thailand is a major destination for Estonian tourists, and a visa waiver would increase interest in the country even more,” Paet added. The Thai foreign minister said that he supports Paet’s proposal in principle.

Foreign Minister Paet said that the Thai foreign minister is welcome to visit Estonia and that economic ties would certainly be enlivened by visits by reciprocal business delegations. “We would also like to hold the first political consultations between our foreign ministries this year in Tallinn,” he added.

The agreements concluded between Estonia and Thailand last year for the avoidance of double taxation and for co-operation in culture and education are very important for promoting Estonia and Thailand’s economic and education co-operation. “There is ample room for growth in our economic co-operation. By concluding these agreements, we hoped to create favourable circumstances for business activity in Estonia and Thailand and facilitate contacts between people and student exchanges,” said Foreign Minister Paet.

They also spoke about co-operation in the logistics sector. The European Union and Russia are important trade partners for Thailand. Paet said that Estonia could be a gateway to the Nordic countries, the EU and Russia for Thai businesses, serving as a transport corridor and a logistics and distribution centre. “Estonia’s advantages are its geographical location, favourable business and investment climate, developed transportation connections, an accessible and high-quality workforce, and essentially waste-free ports,” he added.

Foreign ministers Urmas Paet and Surapong Tovichakchaikul agreed that Estonian and Thai businesses could have closer co-operation in the area of tourism. “Estonian tourists have discovered Thailand as a destination for holidays and we hope that Thai tourists’ interest in Estonia will grow. For example, Tallinn is a popular cruise stop on the Baltic Sea,” he added.

Paet also praised Estonia’s honorary consuls in Thailand, who have helped Estonian citizens resolve problems on many occasions. He added that hopefully Thailand will soon appoint an honorary consul in Estonia.

At their meeting they also addressed co-operation with the European Union and in the UN and reciprocally supporting one another’s candidacies. Estonia also supports starting negotiations for a free trade agreement between the European Union and Thailand.

In the context of human rights and freedoms, the ministers talked about co-operation in the UN Human Rights Council and cyber security and defence.

Source: Estonian Review

Estonia catching up with Finland?

Estonian economist Toomas Karm believes that Estonia could catch up with Finland in per capita GDP in 20 to 25 years. Below is his opinion article that was published in Äripäev last week.

“If one is more conservative than IMF, for instance, and estimates that Estonia’s economy growth will be between 3% and 4% a year and Finland’s economy will grow 1.8% a year, Estonia can catch up with Finland in per capita terms in 20 to 25 years,” said Karm.

Read more from BBN

Estonian, Russian PMs avoided thorny issues

Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev made sure that no thorny political topics were raised during their meeting in St Petersburg on Friday, writes Äripäev.

Commenting the meeting that was held in the framework of the Baltic Sea States Summit, Ansip said that he and Medvedev discussed possibilities to remove obstacles from bilateral trade.

“We both stated that our trade has grown notably in recent years. While in 2000, Russia accounted for 2.4% of Estonia’s total exports, the figure is now between 12 and 16%.” Ansip said that Medvedev also mentioned rapid growth in tourism of Russians into Estonia which is growing between 30 and 50% a year.

Both found that the current border crossing system was not effective for promoting economic and tourism relations.

Speaking of bilateral relations, Ansip said that economic relations between Estonia and Russia are now the best in the last twenty years.

Read more from BBN (Baltic Business News ) here

Lithuania being investigated for cutting Latvian link

The European Commission has launched formal antitrust proceedings against the Lithuanian state-owned railway company Lietuvos gelezinkeliai (LG) for removing a rail link between Latvia and Lithuania, reported news2biz LITHUANIA.

In late 2008, Lietuvos gelezinkeliai dismantled the Lithuanian leg of the rail tracks connecting Renge station in Latvia to Mazeikiai in Lithuania, following an order from the Lithuanian government. It claimed that the track was in bad condition and could cause an accident. It has not reopened the route since.

Both Orlen ( a Polish-owned oil refinery) and Latvian state-owned rail company Latvijas Dzelzcels complain that Lithuania’s move is aimed at protecting its own transport companies at the expense of their competitors.

Read more from BBN

Hiring specialists from abroad becomes easier

Hiring of a top specialist from abroad will soon become easier and the necessary permits would be issued within a few weeks, according to the draft amendment to the Alien Act that was prepared by the Ministry of Interior, writes Äripäev.

The new system would amend the provisions on how top specialists, researchers and lecturers and students can set up residence in Estonia.

The main difference from the current system is that employers can apply for the residence permit for the foreigner once he or she has arrived in Estonia.

However, one precondition for use of this simplified procedure is that the employer pays the top specialist at least Estonia’s average wages.

Read more from BBN

Estonian logistics sector seeks new business from India

Members of the Estonian logistics cluster will be visiting India and Sri Lanka next week to set up contacts with local logistics firms and introduce Estonia as a gateway to a market of 300 million people with high purchasing power, writes Äripäev.

The delegation that will attend the opening of the Estonian Embassy in New Delhi on February 13 will include members of Port of Tallinn, EVR Cargo, RRK, Alekon Cargo, ESTEVE Terminal, CF&S and Tallinn University of Technology.

Estonia will open the Embassy in New Delfi on February 13.

The information technology sector has potential, as does bio- and environmental technology, the timber industry, and the logistics sector,” said Estonian ambassador to India Viljar Lubi.

Read more from BBN

Estonians are not ready to go to court to claim money

Seppo Maunula who helps Estonian construction companies to claim debts from Finnish contractors says that his experience shows that it’s a growing problem because not many Estonian subcontractors know the Finnish legal system, writes Finnish Baltic Business Report.

He says there is no precise statistics on the extend of the problem, but because this is a foreign territory for Estonian enterprises, many companies simply prefer to write down the debts and never pursue them.

Maunula says that Finnish enterprises are often testing Estonian companies and their readiness to claim debts. “The plan is to wait and see what happens.”

He adds that most Finnish companies don’t want to go to court over unpaid bills and prefer an out-of-court settlement.

Read more from BBN

Estonian school to open in Luxembourg

Estonians in Luxembourg have decided to open a monthly Sunday-school-style outfit to teach children about the Estonian language and culture.

“The need to establish an Estonian school emerged from the fact that around 30 children currently living in Luxembourg and the surrounding area attend local schools or cannot participate in the Estonian language lessons at the European School,” Mari-Liis Kivioja, a parent who is one of the founders and who will direct the new school, told Postimees.

“The majority of these children are from multilingual families, and for that reason their Estonian tends to be passive due to living in another environment and speaking in Estonian with only one parent at home,“ she said.

The aim of the school is to teach the Estonian language, as well as literature, history, nature and holidays and traditional dance. There will be two age groups: those aged four to five, and those aged six to seven. In addition to the new school, Luxembourg has also had a local choir for Estonian children since 2009.

Funding for the school will come from participation fees and the Estonian Institute, an NGO.

There are many similar Sunday schools around the world, usually based out of the respective local Estonian House.

Source: Estonian Review

Estonia sets immigration quota at 1,062 people

The Ministry of Interior has made a proposal to set the immigration quota at 1,062 people for 2013 which represents 0.075% of Estonia’s permanent population, writes Postimees daily. As of January 1, there were 178,221 foreigners living in Estonia with a long-term residence permit.

Read more from BBN