Foreign Minister debates Baltic and Nordic state contribution to common EU foreign policy at international conference in Tallinn

On 29 and 30 March, at the invitation of President Toomas Hendrik Ilves of Estonia, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins will attend the Lennart Meri Conference in Tallinn.   

The focus of this year's conference will be such issues as the upcoming NATO summit in Bucharest, the future of the European Neighbourhood Policy, the future policy of the U.S. and Europe, the role of the Middle East in Europe, the situation in Kosovo, and future trends in Russia's policy following the change in administration.  

Mr Riekstins will attend a debate on the role of the region of the Baltic and Nordic states in the common foreign policy of the EU, together with Urmas Paet, the Estonian Foreign Minister, Ilkka Kanerva, the Finnish Foreign Minister, Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, the Chairman of Baltic Development Forum, and Robert Cooper, a representative of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union.  

The Lennart Meri Conference is an international forum to discuss pressing global issues in foreign and security policy. It is held by the International Centre for Defence Studies and the Lennart Meri European Foundation. The patron of the conference is President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and participants include high-level politicians, diplomats, academics, as well as NGO and media representatives.

The tradition of the conference was commenced in 2007 - the anniversary of the death of Lennart Meri (1929-2006) – in order to celebrate his contribution to contemporary European politics as a President of Estonia, Minister of Foreign Affairs, diplomat, and as an active member of the community. The timing of the conference was selected both to mark Mr Meri's birthday on 29 March and a key date in the history of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, when in 2004 these seven states of Central and Eastern Europe became full member states of NATO.     

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