No. 10

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Estonia’s first political conference

15 December 2004

Politics

RiTo No. 10, 2004

  • Rein Lang

    First Vice-President of the Riigikogu, Estonian Reform Party

On 13 October the Riigikogu and Pärnu Konverentsid held for the first time a conference on politics entitled “Successes and failures in world politics.”

The conference, which preceded a symposium on leadership, met its goals with content-rich presentations and open discussion. Estonia’s new position in the world is opening new opportunities for businesses and setting new goals in Estonian foreign policy. It is in our interests that this policy represent the interests of entrepreneurs as well. For this to happen, there has to be connectedness, dialogue and mutual understanding between politicians, diplomats and entrepreneurs, all promoted by having them meet directly – in the same room if need be.
At the conference, appearances were made by Riigikogu speaker Ene Ergma, Georgia foreign minister Salome Zourabichvili and his Estonian colleague Kristiina Ojuland, Riigikogu member Mart Laar and former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, well-known foreign and security analyst Robert Cooper and security expert Paul Goble.

At the end of the conference, one of Finland’s leading philosophers, Helsinki University of Technology philosophy professor, Nokia “media philosopher” and the author of numerous books, Esa Saarinen spoke, receiving a standing ovation at the end of his lecture. The lecture was a simple and heartfelt reminder that happiness is taking pleasure in having someone truly by your side, experiencing magical moments of inspiration, having respect for those beside you, and an injunction to remember the words “wonder” and “joy”.

It is only to be hoped there are more such moments in politics and among politicians.

Full article in Estonian

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