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The President of the Republic met with UN Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan
24.09.2003


The President of the Republic met with UN Secretary-General Kofi A. AnnanPresident Rüütel today in New York met with UN Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan.

Kofi Annan thanked Estonia for its help in keeping peace in Iraq and Afghanistan, and congratulated Estonia on the positive outcome of the EU referendum. The President of the Republic expressed support for Kofi Annan’s proposals to reform the United Nations Organisation.

According to President Rüütel, Estonia and also the majority of other Baltic Sea countries were concerned about single-hull tankers carrying oil on the Baltic Sea. The UN Secretary-General agreed that this was a serious problem and opined that it should not be hard for Estonia to find in the world support for the ban on single-hull tankers.

The President of the Republic invited the UN Secretary-General to Estonia. Kofi Annan thanked for the invitation and assured that he would like to visit the Baltic States.

The President of the Republic gave Kofi Annan as a present a leatherbound book on Estonian song festivals. President Rüütel told him how the song festivals had helped Estonia to regain its independence and recommended that the United Nations Organisation, too, could use singing as a weapon. The UN Secretary-General liked the idea and added that he and President Rüütel could travel together in the world singing of peace. The President of the Republic invited the UN Secretary-General to visit also the next Estonian Song Festival in 2004.


Office of the President
New York, September 24, 2003


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