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President of the Republic and Evelin Ilves to depart for a state visit to Poland

17.03.2014

The President, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, and Evelin Ilves will take a visit to Poland on 18-20 March at the invitation of the Polish Head of State, Bronisław Komorowski.

Poland is Estonia's important ally in NATO and the European Union and our stable partner in the Baltic Sea region.

President Ilves has described Poland as one of the most responsible and caring leading country not just in this specific region, but in general. According to the president, the future of Europe in the 21st century would be unthinkable without the active participation in Poland, and Estonia expects that Warsaw, unlike many other European capital cities, has the guts to take a leading role in Europe and determine the future fate of the European Union in general.

The official delegation accompanying President Ilves includes the Minister of Defence, Urmas Reinsalu; the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communication, Juhan Parts; the Minister of Culture, Urve Palo; the Rector of University of Tartu, Volli Kalm; Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, General Major Riho Terras; Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture, Paavo Nõgene; winner of the Young Cultural Figure Award of the President of the Republic, pianist Mihkel Poll, and members of the Riigikogu, Andre Sepp and Kalev Kallo.

The Estonian Head of State will have discussions in Poland with President Komorowski, Speaker (Marshal) of the Polish Senate, Bogdan Borusewicz, Speaker (Marshal) of the Polish Sejm, Ewa Kopacz, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski.

Meeting with the Vice President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and paying a visit to Poland and Lithuania, was added to tomorrow's programme at the proposal of Mr Biden; the Estonian Head of State will discuss Russia's aggression in Ukraine with the vice president, and joint, uniform and effective counter steps to be taken by democratic countries, as well as methods to ensure the security of our region.

President Ilves will open an Estonian-Polish business forum on Wednesday with the Polish Head of State and will give a speech entitled "25 years on: changes in mental geography in Europe" at the University of Warsaw.

The Estonian Head of State and Evelin Ilves will also pay a visit to the Warsaw Uprising Museum (Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego), and place a wreath on the grave of the unknown soldier. President Komorowski and Anna Komorowska will give a state dinner to honour their guests.

On Thursday, the Estonian Head of State and Evelin Ilves will visit Gdansk where they will place a wreath at the monument of the shipbuilders who died in 1970. President Ilves will visit the exhibition "Road to Freedom", Gdansk Science and Technology Park, the Convent of Polonia that also has links to Estonia, and the Polish-Estonian business seminar that takes place in Sopot.

Evelin Ilves will visit the "Budzik" ("Alarm Clock") private clinic in Warsaw for children in a coma, a school for children with Down syndrome, of which Anna Komorowska is a patron, museum of ethnography, workshop of jewellers, Wytwornia Antidotum, and the World Hearing Center.

The Estonian Head of State will be accompanied to Poland by a representative business delegation, lead by a member of the Executive Board of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gunnar Kraft, including Mait Palts (Director General of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Ivar Dembovski (Rait AS), Heiti Hääl (Alexela Group AS), Robert Juodka (Law Office Varul), Tõnis Kaasik (Ecometal AS), Armin Karu (Olympic Entertainment Group AS), Kristo Kirs (Vesimentor OÜ), Juhan Kolk (Yoga AS), Erik Konze (Forest and Wood Industries Association), Mariusz Kowalski (Raitwood), Tõnis Leetjõe (Eesti Viljasalv AS), Roman Lossman (Tavid AS), Indrek Neivelt (Trust In OÜ/ CEED Institute), Ruth Oltjer (Chemi-Pharm), Neeme Org (Aktors OÜ), Hannes Plinte (GoSwift), Martin Rand (Vital Fields), Göran Sjöholm (Delux OÜ), Aare Tark (Law Office Tark Grunte Sutkiene), Darius Totilas (Raitwood UAB), Margus Uudam (Ambient Sound Investments OÜ), Andres Vainola (Empower AS), Tiit Vapper (Real Systems), Aleksander Wasidlow (Vesimentor OÜ).

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