Nordic Secretary General visited Estonia

Asgrimsson has previously visited Estonia on several occasions as a member of Iceland’s Alting and as an Icelandic Foreign Minister. His last visit was with 400 other people from the east of Iceland in the summer of 2006. On May 8 Halldór Ásgrímsson opened a Nordic-Baltic Innovation seminar: "Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship" in Tallinn. The seminar was organised by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ office in Estonia and the four Nordic embassies in the country. In his speech Halldór Ásgrímsson made refrence to major changes in our region:

"Since the Nordic Council of Ministers opened its office in Estonia back in 1991 the whole region has undergone positive change. The enlarged EU of has 27 member states now offers new opportunities but also tougher competition. In the same way the global economy provides both new opportunities and challenges. We need strong co-operation in our part of Europe if we are to take advantage of these new opportunities. This will naturally have an influence on Nordic-Baltic relations. Regional co-operation is a process in constant development. Despite 16 years of intense Nordic-Baltic co-operation we still have a lot to achieve. We still need each other if we are to turn our visions into reality".