President Rüütel said that, in his estimation, the information received was of great importance to the future co-operation and promised, after having returned home, to discuss with the Chairman of the Estonian Parliament possibilities to deepen the co-operation. In addition, the Estonian Head of State thanked Hungary for its full support to Estonia's accession to NATO, one further testimony to which were also the meetings of Tarmo Kõuts, the Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, today in Budapest.
President Rüütel emphasized that joint activities of the parliaments of candidate countries were only natural prior to the European Union's enlargement. "Estonia still has to negotiate complicated fiscal and agricultural issues and here our two countries definitely have common interests to express," President Rüütel said.
As the Estonian Head of State observed, the cordial contact born during the today's meeting with President Ferenc Mádl and the lack of time caused by a multitude of talking points proved that kindred peoples had a natural need and disposition for talks with each other. Parliament's Speaker Katalin Szili added: "Nations, notably the small nations, can face totally new challenges of the 21st century only in effective co-operation with each other. Today's meetings of the Estonian Head of State in Budapest have demonstrated that Estonia and Hungary have a very good disposition for that."
Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, September 11, 2002
