The President of Finland visited Estonia

The president of Finland, Tarja Halonen, arrived to Estonia for a brief privat visit. Estonia's president Arnold Rüütel met her on Sunday at Kadriorg.

Both presidents assessed the Estonian-Finnish relations as being close and mutually supportive. While discussing contacts in the field of science and education, the Heads of State found that those contacts are mutually beneficial and have created a foundation for further deepening of relationsin the future.

The presidents discussed also matters related to the Baltic Sea states
cooperation, including the cooperation in energy field in general and theplans of building a gas pipeline along the Baltic Sea bottom as a separate issue.

Addressing environmental topic and also development of shipping in that context, the Heads of State expressed their hope that the Baltic Sea would be declared a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area at the forthcoming assembly of the UN International Maritime Organisation (IMO) which will be held in Finland.