Ilves calls for co-ordinated approach

Oct 31, 2007
In cooperation with BNS

RIGA -- Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has urged his Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts to better coordinate the activities of the Baltic states so as to ensure more efficient cooperation.

Meeting with presidents Valdis Zatlers of Latvia and Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania in the Latvian capital Riga on Oct. 30, Ilves said he is confident that the key to success lies in the word 'coordination'.

As Ilves said, coordinated activity means smooth, open-hearted and friendly cooperation between the Baltic governments, parliaments and local governments of the border areas to solve problems involving common interest, spokespeople for the Estonian president said.

The Estonian president recalled how at the summit of the European Union a joint letter by the prime ministers of the Baltic states on truck queues on the Russian border was not delivered, and mentioned problems in coordinating common positions as regards a land-based gas pipeline as an alternative to Nord Stream.

Other items on the presidential agenda included the accession of their countries to the Schengen visa area, energy security, transport routes passing through the three countries, and the European neighborhood policy.

As regards the future of the Ignalina Nuclear plant project, Ilves said that clarity is needed over how the process will proceed in the future.

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