Press Conference With Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Rein Lang

ESTONIAN MFA SPOKESWOMAN EHTEL HALLISTE:  Good morning everybody gathered here.  As we have very little time I'm going to make a very brief introduction.

Our guest today is Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick.  He's going to meet our Prime Minister, he's just met our Minister of Foreign Affairs.  And both Ministers are going to tell you what they discussed.

I'm sure you know the house rules.  If you want to ask questions could you please approach the table?

But now I give the floor to our Minister and then to our guest.

MINISTER LANG:  Yes, thank you.  Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm sure you are dying to ask questions so I'll just limit myself to saying that we had a fascinating talk.  Unfortunately, it lasted just for 50 minutes, although we could have spent much longer.  We spoke about NATO; we spoke about relations with Russia; and the place of Russia in international relations.  And we expressed again our gratitude to Americans for their non-recognition of Estonia's status after World War II and also that the relations between Estonia and the U.S. are the best ever, we're friends and allies.  But now I'd like to give the floor to my colleague.

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK:Thank you very much, Minister.  I want to begin by thanking the Minister and his colleagues for taking time to see us on this visit.

The purpose of this trip is to complement the visit of President Bush and Secretary Rice earlier this year by visiting a number of capitals of our NATO allies so as to listen and to learn about some of the items on their agenda as we start a second term.  Later today, I will, near the end of this visit, meet with the NATO Council and tomorrow I'll meet with the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.

But as I said to the Minister, I first visited Estonia in 1991 when I worked with Secretary [of State James] Baker.  It's an absolute delight to see what Estonia has accomplished during the intervening years.  Not only its membership in the European Union and NATO, but frankly the great economic achievements which have been the fruit of a lot of hard work by the Estonian people as well as the wisdom of its government in the policies that it set.

I thanked the Minister for the contributions that Estonia has made to promoting freedom in other countries, particularly Afghanistan and Iraq.  I expressed my condolences for the two Estonian soldiers who lost their lives in the cause of freedom in Iraq.  And we had a chance to outline where we see some of those issues developing.

As you may know, the Iraqi Parliament just recently selected a Speaker of the Parliament, a Sunni, and they're in the process of their own government formation.

So while the visit is brief, it's useful for me to get a sense of some of the Estonian priorities on both the political and the economic side.  But we have the greatest respect for what Estonia has accomplished, and so it was a pleasure for me to get a chance to meet the minister and hear his views.

ESTONIAN MFA SPOKESWOMAN HALLISTE: Thank you.  The first question.

QUESTION:  [Kaarel Kaas, Postimees]  ...How do you find the events in the Baltic states in the 1944?  Was it liberation or occupation of those states by the Soviet Union?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK:I'll let the historians determine the course of history and the events of history.  Obviously the United States took a view about the status of the three Baltic states all during the Cold War.  In the United States, these countries were considered captive nations and we never recognized the annexation.  So it was a particular point of pride for us to see the wheel of history turn and to see countries regain the status and be able to determine their own future.

The United States fought alongside the then Soviet Union during the course of World War II and we know that the Soviet Union lost millions of people in that conflict, and we are proud of our role in the liberation of Europe during the period 1941-1945, and we're proud of our role with these countries today.

As the Minister and I discussed, we also don't want to be captive to the past.  It's important to look forward.  We are extremely pleased that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are now members of NATO, that they are members of the European Union, that they are developing economically, that they've got stable democracies.  So the reason the President is visiting is not because of the historical past but to learn about the future of our cooperation with these partners. [Note: [Bush will visit Latvia, the Netherlands, Russia and Georgia from May 6-10, and will meet with the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in Riga, Latvia]. Then he's going on to Moscow obviously at the invitation of President Putin for the May 9th ceremonies as well [to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II].

So it's important now, 60 years after the end of World War II, to recognize the sacrifices of people.  Our World War II generation is passing on and it's important in all our countries to recognize the people that defeated Nazism and Fascism.

QUESTION:  [Tarmu Tammerk, AFP] Thank you.  There are some political parties in Estonia who want Estonian troops to be pulled out from Iraq.  How long should Estonian troops stay in Iraq, do you think?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK:The decision about Estonian troops is up to the people of Estonia.  That's what goes with sovereignty and independence.

As I said to the Minister, we very much appreciate the contribution of the Estonian soldiers.  We know that for a small country the loss of life is one that has been a hard blow for the people of Estonia.

I would just add, I guess, two dimensions.  One, as the Minister and I discussed, we're starting to see in the aftermath of the elections in Iraq a greater coming together of the different communities -- Shia, Sunni and Kurd -- and that is helping in terms of defeating the insurgency.  In addition, with the formation of this new government one needs to focus on some of the economic conditions, whether it be electricity, decentralization of power, or development of a legal system.  And those are elements that are going to be important as the United States and the European Union follow through on the discussion of a possible conference to support the independent democratic Iraq.

So, it would be very unfortunate in our view that at a time that one is moving in the right direction that partners would withdraw their forces, because I think the connection should be more related to developing the Iraqi military, the training aspects, and looking to the constitutional formation in Iraq.

All our countries want to bring our forces home.  We certainly want to bring our men and women home as well, but the question is under what circumstances with the progress in Iraq.

I would just add one other dimension which is, as I mentioned to the Minister, the United States is very proud of its policy towards Estonia over the course of 1945 to '91 and the partnership we've had since then.  I would just say to the Estonian people, we realize there are many sacrifices being made, the economy is still getting its feet on the ground in terms of income and revenue, and at the same time we think that it's a very positive statement that a country that looked to others to help support its freedom and independence turns and also can see a broader view of helping others, whether it be in Iraq or Afghanistan.  I think that's a great message for the world.

So these are decisions for Estonians to make, but one of the reasons that I'm here was to hear the viewpoints and to try to explain where we think developments stand.

MINISTER LANG: I would just like to add one thing.  The position of the Estonian government is very definite.  The Estonian troops are in Iraq as long as needed and not a day more.  The government has applied to the Estonian parliament to extend their mission for one year, and that's a unilateral decision of the government.

QUESTION:  [David Mardiste, Reuters] Mr. Zoellick, regarding your telephone call with EU trade commissioner Mr. Mandelson on the weekend: is there an impasse to the Boeing/Airbus dispute and where do you see this going?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK:How parochial.  Everywhere I go Reuters asks me an Airbus question.  [Laughter].

I'm not sure what call you're referring to.  I didn't have a call with Commissioner Mandelson this weekend so my last one was, I don't know, well over a week ago.  So our position is as I stated it to the last Reuters correspondent, which is we think it's time to end any subsidies to large-scale commercial aircraft as defined by the WTO [World Trade Organization] rules.  The launch aid is clearly a form of subsidy.  We brought a case to the WTO because of that.  Commissioner Mandelson wanted to make an effort to try to see if one could negotiate the end to any subsidies.  My sense is that the consensus among some of the parties in Europe to do that has not yet gelled.

It's interesting, when the Commissioner and I made an agreement on January 11th to try to negotiate this over the course of the next 90 days, within the days that followed, Noël Forgeard of Airbus said ‘we need more launch aid’.

So we've tried.  During the 90-day period there was supposed to be a standstill for any subsidies.  And as we've expressed, we'd be willing to extend that standstill if the European Union wants to focus on the elimination.  But there have been ideas put forward about well, we can't quite eliminate now, we need to adjust interest rates or other forms, and that's not the direction we want to go.  We want to try to end these subsidies.

Airbus is a good plane.  It doesn't really need subsidies.  Airbus should be able to go to the marketplace and be able to get financing like any other commercial company does.

ESTONIAN MFA SPOKESWOMAN HALLISTE: Room for one more quick question.

I don't see anybody so thank you very much Ministers, and see you again.

(end transcript)