This morning, the Presidents had visited the Port of Roomassaare, where Colonel Aare Evisalu had taken them out for a cruise on the Bay of Kuressaare aboard the Border Guard's patrol boat "Kõu". Thereafter, they had made another trip on the "Linda Express", the new express boat of Lindaline Ltd. which, according to the Chairman of the Board, Enn Rohula, could be one of the vessels to open passenger traffic between Kuressaare and Riga, with an option to extend the line to Helsinki and Stockholm. President Vike-Freiberga deemed the idea of such a shipping line connecting countries excellent.
In summary of her visit, the Latvian Head of State said that meeting the people of Saaremaa, holding in honour their own culture, had been a great experience and that Saaremaa's wonderful nature was impressive too. Also President Rüütel, from Monday up to this day having shown the President of our neighbouring country around in Saaremaa, said that both the tour and their talks had been successful.
"In addition to weighing up possibilities of how to promote contacts between Estonia and Latvia and to join efforts in order to reach our similar goals, with the President of Latvia we also discussed our crucial steps in the context of NATO and the European Union," the Estonian Head of State noted summarizing their visit to Saaremaa.
Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, August 7, 2002
