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| Press Releases | | | The President of the Republic met with the NATO Secretary General11.03.2004
President Arnold Rüütel today at Kadriorg met with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer who is on a fact-finding visit to Estonia.
Their meeting addressed the imminent enlargement of NATO, whereas both sides voiced satisfaction with their thus-far cooperation. President Rüütel thanked the Secretary General and all NATO Member States for having rapidly completed the pre-accession ratification process. The Estonian Head of State also informed him that he had this morning promulgated the Act on the Accession to the North Atlantic Treaty passed by the Riigikogu on March 10.
Secretary General Scheffer emphasized that NATO, first of all, was an alliance of values that was ready to defend these values both in the territory of its Member Countries and, if necessary, farther away. The Secretary General also expressed hope that Estonia in future, too, would be able to spend two percent of its GDP on defence.
The discussion also touched upon the future of territorial defence in Estonia after the accession to NATO. It was noted that Estonia was ready to fulfil the duties deriving from its NATO membership, i.e. to develop in the first place rapidly deployable forces. According to both President Rüütel and Secretary General Scheffer, the development of territorial defence was a valuable supplement to this work helping, as exemplified by the Estonian Defence League, to shape and preserve the people's defence will, and to keep alive Estonia's historical traditions.
Public Relations Unit of the Office of the President Kadriorg, March 11, 2004
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