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The President of the Republic visited the Island of Fyn
15.09.2004


President Arnold Rüütel today on his official visit to Denmark visited the City of Odense on the Island of Fyn.

In the morning, the President of the Republic opened a business seminar at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Odense-Fyn. Thereafter, President Rüütel in the same city opened an Estonian Honorary Consulate. The new Estonian Honorary Consul, Jørgen Bast, has worked as a solicitor and senior bank official, and is at present Managing Director of F. Uhrenholt Holding A/S, a food processing enterprise, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Odense-Fyn. As Honorary Consul, he represents Estonia's interests on the Island of Fyn and in South Jutland.

At a meeting in the City Government of Odense, Mayor Anker Boye acquainted President Rüütel with the city government's work and the structural reform currently under preparation in Denmark. By 2006, the reform should leave in the country five regions instead of the present 14 counties and around 100 municipalities instead of the present 275 communes. The reform is expected to decentralise power, to give the new regions more decision-making powers and to boost their development capabilities.

The President of the Republic concluded his official visit to Denmark with a call at the Lindø Shipyard belonging to the AP Moeller-Maersk Group, which thanks to its investment in the Loksa Shipyard and the engineering company Balti ES is the biggest Danish investor in Estonia. Managing Director of the enterprise Torben Anker Sørensen gave an overview of how the shipyard using high-tech techniques and equipment builds the world's largest container ships and double-hull oil tankers. The Managing Director spoke very highly of the work skills of Estonian shipbuilders, which enables the firm to successfully compete in the world markets with Korean shipbuilders. The shipbuilders of Lindø owing to their persistent innovativeness have been able to make up for the sectorial decline in the metal and engineering industry - so, for instance, they have harnessed widely a new ship-welding robot system developed by the shipyard.

Mrs. Ingrid Rüütel today within the scope of her special programme visited the Hans Christian Andersen Museum. The City of Odense and the whole people of Denmark are preparing to celebrate their great writer's bicentenary in 2005.

The President of the Republic and Mrs. Rüütel along with the official delegation will arrive back in Estonia this evening.


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