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Address of the President of the Republic to the American Chamber of Commerce on its 5th anniversary in Estonia, January 31, 200231.01.2002
Your Excellency, Ambassador of the United States,
Honourable Members of the American Chamber of Commerce,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to congratulate you on the fifth anniversary of the American Chamber of Commerce.
Five years is quite a long time for an economy developing so rapidly like that of Estonia. These last five years have not been identical: we have had both better and worse times. But during those years we have reinforced the foundation on which we are building the future of Estonia. Let me dwell on the relationship between the state and the foreign investor in Estonian business environment.
The foreign investors have played an essential role in promoting Estonian economy. The foreign investments enhance the investment capacity of the Estonian enterprises and they bring both new knowledge and new technologies to Estonia. Enterprises with foreign partnership earn profits although they pay to their employees more than the average.
We are proud of Estonia having become a favourable site for foreign investments. We were delighted to hear Mr DeThomas, the Ambassador of the United States, to describe Estonia as one of the most business-friendly economies. We shall do our utmost this to remain so in future too.
I believe you to agree with me that the state can contribute to business activities most while creating a stable economic environment. This has been the aim of the Estonian political choices as well.
Yet, the stability alone is not enough. So, to create a stable environment for business and investments, Estonia will maintain equal treatment to both domestic and foreign investors. Only in this case we can hope that the foreign investors will leave their profits in Estonia and make new investments here.
It is incumbent on the government to support other factors fostering the development of economy as well. Here I would point out the necessity to direct investments into development of infrastructure and protection of environment, into enhancing the educational level and professional skills of the population. There is no doubt that our legal environment needs to be improved, and the legislation to be implemented more efficiently. While doing all this, it is very important to fight against the corruption. We cannot ignore the need to form policies on the basis of development plans approved by the public. And it would testify to the success of our state policy if the foreign investors started to invest more and more in other regions outside the capital too.
The fact that Estonia is moving towards the European Union is advancing the achievement of the mentioned goals. But, to better utilize our economic potential we need good relations also with other countries, in particular, I am referring to our relations with Russia.
Should you ask, in which direction the Estonian economy is moving in the 21st century, I would say that a couple of the next decades will be best characterized by approaching the EU-standards and improving the co-operation with Russia. It definitely will take one more generation to catch up with our backlog, but we have the privilege of learning from the experience of developed industrial countries.
One experience being the perception that economies develop more quickly when they work together. It is particularly relevant in the case of Estonia, which has one of the most open economies in the world. Although Estonia is such a small country that many even do not know of its existence, we still are a partner and a competitor in our globalized world. Strong trade relations and a considerable flow of investments between Estonia and the United States exemplify it vividly. And this - in spite of a considerable geographical distance between our two countries! We want these relations to continue and to deepen.
In order to strengthen our partnership and to retain our competitiveness, we must develop our strengths, protect and keep our characteristic features, and advance at a quicker pace than the others. I have described the role of the state in this process already. But from you, honourable businessmen, I am expecting above all initiative and innovative thinking. When the business is doing well, the whole of Estonia will benefit from it.
Once again, I would like to wish you perseverance and success.
Thank you for your attention.
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