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The President of the Republic delivered a speech at Stanford University
20.01.2006


President Rüütel, on Friday, January 20, visited Stanford University, met with the former U.S. Defence Secretary Dr. William Perry, and delivered a speech at the Centre for International Security and Cooperation of Stanford University.

Professor of Stanford University, the former U.S. Defence Secretary Dr. William Perry, and Dr. Coit Blacker, Director of the Institute for International Studies gave President Rüütel an overview of the organisational structure and activities in the field of international relations and security policy studies at Stanford University.

At Stanford Hoover Institution, the President of the Republic acquainted himself with archival documents concerning Estonia. The archives include documents about the activities of the Estonian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference and documents from K.R.Pusta’s personal archives, also documents recording the organisation of U.S. food aid to the children of Russian emigrants in Estonia following the World War I. The Hoover Institution has collected material also on national awakening movement of the Livonians and audiotapes of Radio Free Europe Estonian language broadcasts.

At a dinner held at the Stanford University Centre for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Dr. William Perry introduced President Rüütel to a high-level academic audience as an architect of Estonia’s independence restoration. The Head of Estonian State delivered a speech in which he dealt with Estonia’s as a NATO member opinion concerning the development of security and answered questions. The listeners, around a hundred people who attended the dinner, were first of all interested in Estonia’s relations with Russia.

In his speech, President Rüütel stressed the crucial importance of value-based actions in complicated security policy situations. “Military operations create possibilities to restore normal life in conflict areas by providing security there. At the same time, eventual success comes only through a free society, the rule of law, democratic principles and the reconstruction of authorities that follow them. Therefore, we need considerably higher capabilities for the strengthening of the civilian component in crisis management and the following reconstruction than we have today, both at the level of states and international organizations. The more successful the reconstruction and the strengthening of good governance are, the faster our peace forces can be taken home from one or another state,” the President of the Republic said.

President Rüütel expressed his hope that Stanford University would find common research topics also with Estonian academics, for example, through joining forces to analyze the changes of late 1980s and 1990s using all available information. “As a Head of State and a former rector of a university, I would of course also welcome an active movement of academics and students between the University of Stanford and Estonian universities,” the President of the Republic said.

The full text of the speech delivered by President Rüütel is available at: www.president.ee

Friday evening, President Rüütel visited the Golden Gate Bridge and the Golden Gate National Park, and after that left the United States of America. The Head of State will arrive back in Estonia on Saturday, late in the evening.


Public Relations Department of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, January 20, 2006


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