No. 27

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Representing Estonia at the World Parliamentary Forum

  • Tõnis Kõiv

    Member of the Riigikogu, head of the Estonian delegation to the IPU (Estonian Reform Party)

For the past two years, the Estonian delegation to the IPU has acted according to the following principle: each trip that an Estonian parliamentarian makes abroad should leave a positive trace, introduce Estonia, spread the knowledge that we are a small but good country, that our people are smart, and that Estonia is home to many good things that help make the world a better place. During the IPU Assembly in Uganda in 2012 and in Ecuador in 2013, the head of the Estonian delegation spoke of the „Let’s do it!” campaign that originated in Estonia and was first known in the world as Let’s do it World and is now known as World Cleanup. All the fifty thousand Estonian people who cleaned up Estonia within one Saturday in May 2008 can be proud of what has become of this Estonian campaign: as it spread to over 96 countries all over the world, Estonia became increasingly known as a successful and progressive country.

“Let’s do it!” is a voluntary initiative of people, originating from a free society and the people’s wish to independently solve a burning problem. Just like in Estonia, most of the countries participating in the campaign have chosen illegal dumpsites and litter in road ditches and in forests as the main issue. Just like in Estonia, the implementation of the campaign has helped to spread the understanding in the society that in order to change something, one has to do it themselves.

In the IPU, Finns, Swedes and Lithuanians are Estonia’s main partners in joint activities. We also closely interact in the Twelve Plus group. The goal of the Riigikogu delegation to the IPU for the year 2015 is to achieve a stance where the Nordic countries’ group would act in a more joint and solidary manner at the World Parliamentary Forum.

Full article in Estonian

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