President Arnold Rüütel was very pleased with NATO's invitation to Estonia to start accession talks. The President said: "The invitation today presented to Estonia means that one task set has been accomplished and a new stage in the history of Estonia begins. Our years of work have borne fruit. The invitation is to Estonia both a credit and an obligation. Yet under no circumstances does it mean as if our efforts to build up our national defence were completed. On the contrary the talks with NATO are just only beginning and a lot of serious work is still ahead. Estonia is definitely ready to make its contribution to the strengthening of security and democratic values in Europe."
