The image of Estonia in the UK and Germany

TALLINN - United Kingdom and Germany are not familiar with Estonia,
the Estonian Investment Agency reported after the completion of a
research in these two important countries. Half of the people
questioned in the United Kingdom and only one fourth of the Germans
know where the country is.

The Estonian Investment Agency together with research company
ACNiel-sen organized a six week research in the UK and Germany at the
end of 1999 among a total of 406 companies to understand the current
image of Estonia in these countries. The sample companies were
engaged in information technology, electronics, telecommunications,
wood processing, engineering, transport and distribution.

"Most of the information about Estonia is currently coming through TV
and radio but companies would rather get it through Internet, e-mail
and direct mail," said Agu Remmelg, director at the Estonian
Investment Agency. He said that the results of the research help in
building a country's image among potential investors and the agency
is planning to send out additional information to 40 percent of the
respondents.

An overall 65 percent of potential investors said that they did not
have enough information about Estonia and half of the respondents
were missing information on the general business environment of
Estonia.

According to the research 27 percent of the British knew nothing
about Estonia and the same share of respondents knew it as a former
Soviet republic. Germans associated Estonia with adjectives like
Baltic state and small.

"A surprisingly small percentage of respondents associated Estonia
with the integration with the European Union," said Remmelg. "At the
same time accession to EU will make Estonia more attractive for 73
percent of companies surveyed."

Respondents also mentioned other positive attributes of Estonia -
economical and financial stability, good banking system and good
telecommunications system.