President Rüütel opened the meeting of the Directorate of the CISM saying in his opening address that it was an honour to Estonia and our Defence Forces to organize an event like this. The President praised the sporting will of Estonian servicemen and noticed that the achievements of Estonian soldiers in military sports had brought them world-wide fame already in the first half of the last century, and that these traditions were continued at the last winter Olympics, where also top athletes serving in the army belonged to the Estonian delegation.
President Rüütel expressed his conviction that the Directorate was designing for military athletes new enthralling trials of strength, bringing them closer together both as colleagues and as men. "In this way, the soldiers will become the best defenders of their families, homes and countries," the President added.
Estonia is organizing a meeting of the CISM, a world organisation uniting 122 nations, for the first time. It is a tradition, that a meeting is opened by the supreme commander of the national defence of the organizing country.
Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, March 14, 2002
