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East-European Heads of State to gather in Warsaw to discuss security of the region

21.07.2014

The President, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, will today leave for Warsaw to take part in tomorrow's meeting of the heads of state of the Baltic states, Bulgaria, Romania and the Visegrad group states – Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The aim of the meeting is to develop a common position prior to the NATO Summit in September on the Russia-fuelled crisis in Ukraine and to assess its possible influence on global security.

The main issue to be discussed at the meeting is the situation in Ukraine and in particular Russia's aggression. This comes in light of the tragic Malaysia Airlines plane disaster in the skies above Eastern Ukraine last week, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 300 people. The presidents will discuss the steps that both the European Union and NATO should take in the changed security situation and will exchange their ideas about the goals of the upcoming NATO summit.

Within the framework of working visit, President Ilves will also take part in a bilateral meeting with the President of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, and the President of Slovakia, Andrej Kiska.

President Ilves will return to Estonia on Tuesday, 22 July.

* The Visegrad Group, also called the Visegrad Four or V4, is an alliance of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The Group originated in a summit meeting of the Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland in Visegrad, Hungary on 15 February 1991, and its purpose is to further the European countries within the framework of co-operation between these three states. The Czech Republic and Slovakia became members after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. All the V4 states have been members of the European Union since 1 May 2004.

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