President Alar Karis is set to make official visits to Helsinki and Vilnius to meet for the first time with his Finnish and Lithuanian counterparts Sauli Niinistö and Gitanas Nausėda.
Celia Kuningas-Saagpakk, Foreign Affairs Adviser to the President of the Republic, says that the head of state is paying the official visits to these important partners to Estonia to confirm that close cooperation will continue between the countries. “At the start of the president’s term it is customary for the head of state to visit their closest international partners and colleagues,” she explained. “Maintaining lines of communication with Finland and Lithuania is very important to Estonia, as they are among our closest friends and allies. We share similar views on many issues and are working together to address the major challenges we face today – everything from climate policy to security, and needless to say the coronavirus crisis. These are the issues the president will be focussing on in his meetings in Helsinki and Vilnius.”
President Karis will be meeting with President Sauli Niinistö of Finland in Helsinki today. Thereafter, the heads of state will give a joint press conference that can be followed online at https://presidentti.videosync.fi/live.
While in Helsinki, President Karis will also be visiting the ‘Enigma of Painting’ exhibition of the works of Estonian artist Konrad Mägi and meeting with those seeking to promote cooperation between Estonia and Finland. The head of state also plans to visit the newly renovated Estonian embassy and to give interviews to the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper and the television channel MTV3.
On Wednesday, President Karis will be travelling to Vilnius to meet with President Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania. A joint press conference will again follow the meeting of the heads of state. President Karis will also be visiting the Estonian embassy in Vilnius and giving an interview to the Lithuanian national broadcaster LRT.
