NEWS
Prime Minister Borut Pahor on a working visit to Estonia
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, paid an official visit to the Republic of Estonia at the invitation of the Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip. He was accompanied by the Minister for Development and European Affairs, Mitja Gaspari. Prime Minister Pahor first visited ICT Demo Centre in Tallinn where he met with the Executive Director Indrek Vimberg, who outlined the Centre's e-service project Estonia is recognized as one of the most advanced countries in the world in this area. Special attention was devoted to e-elections due to the fact that Estonia has recorded an increase in voter turnout ever since the introduction of this service.
Later in the visit, Prime Minister Pahor met with the Director General of Estonia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Siim Rai, to discuss economic conditions and consequences of economic and financial crisis in Estonia. The host emphasised that Estonia had carried out the bulk of its reforms in 1999 and recorded a sharp economic growth the following year. The country thus entered the crisis with a large budgetary surplus. The conversation then focused on unemployment which is particularly high in Estonia, reaching 17.8% this year. This trend is unlikely to reverse considerably in the future due to the structural nature of unemployment.
The central part of Prime Minister Pahor’s visit was a meeting with his Estonian counterpart, Andrus Ansip, during which the two statesmen focused on the bilateral political relations between their two countries assessing them as very good and highlighting that there were no outstanding issues between them. The two statesmen expressed their satisfaction with the prospects for closer economic cooperation. There are also a number of opportunities for cooperation on the EU level since the two countries often share the same views and opinions. The discussion was focused on Estonia's forthcoming adoption of the euro and measures aimed at exiting the crisis. On 1 January 2011, Estonia will adopt the common European currency; therefore, it would highly appreciate Slovenia’s experience with the introduction of the euro. Prime Minister Pahor highlighted the necessity of close cooperation between the central bank and the government which, in the case of Slovenia, contributed to a smooth adoption of the new currency. Minister Gaspari drew attention to the importance of good public relations and dual display of prices. Much attention was also paid to the measures for exiting the crisis. Prime Minister Pahor commended Estonia’s successful overcoming of the crisis, its economic growth rate being projected at around 4% this year. In this context, Estonia’s Prime Minister Ansip recalled that his country was facing a high structural unemployment. In his words, his country’s public deficit will be around 1.3% of GDP. Estonia's GDP has increased in the past few years, but before the crisis the country boasted a high budget surplus. The two prime ministers also discussed pension reform since Estonia recently raised the retirement age to 65, which is also envisaged by Slovenia's proposed pension reform.
At the close of his visit, Prime Minister Pahor briefly met with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves to discuss measures for improving and modernising the economy. The two statesmen discussed in a very friendly atmosphere the relations between their two countries. They also touched upon a number of topical foreign policy issues.