PM speaks about Estonia's economic model at Stanford

01.12.2007

PALO ALTO, California, Dec 01, BNS - Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip in his speech at the Hoover Institution on Friday presented the economic model of Estonia, stressing that rapid and resolute reforms made up the basis of the country's success.

The premier hailed the Hoover Institution, situated on the campus of Stanford University, California, for its links to Estonia, as the institution has over many years preserved a unique collection of documents about the history of the Baltic states.

The collection includes important documents from the first years of Estonia's independence, materials that used to belong to Estonian diplomats, exiles and members of the diaspora from the period after World War II.

Ansip said that the Hoover Institution and Estonia were bound by common values.

Personal freedom, economic and political freedom, private entrepreneurship and a government consisting of people's representatives held the central place in the vision of the founder of this powerful institution, President Herbert Hoover, said Ansip.

"These principles are held in high esteem also in Estonia," he said.

Estonia ranks third in the world by freedom of the press and is one of the countries with the highest degree of economic freedom according to the Heritage Foundation's economic freedom index, the prime minister said.

In describing the steps that Estonia made to reorient its economy, Ansip named the effect from the energy embargo imposed by Russia in the early 1990s along with the double-size import duties on Estonian goods.

He described as important Estonia's simple and transparent, flat-rate tax system and its readiness to take into use new technologies and IT solutions.

Speaking about the cyber attacks against Estonia earlier this year, the prime minister said that openness in the IT area also had its negative sides.

Ansip said that Estonia's model of development has proved successful and the major domestic reforms have been completed, yet work has not been finished yet.

"Right now Estonia's gross domestic product makes up 72 percent of the EU average, but we would like join to the European wealthy nations club in a not very distant future. We aren't going to rest on our laurels," the prime minister said.

He underscored the need to continue strengthening one's security.

"EU and NATO membership indeed means more, not fewer international obligations," Ansip said, also stressing the importance of bilateral relations with the best allies, including the United States, which need regular attention and should never be taken as a matter-of-fact thing.

Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8814, sise@bns.ee