Gallery: President Kaljulaid meets German president in Berlin
President Kersti Kaljulaid met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday during her three-day official visit to Germany.
Monday afternoon saw the two presidents mark the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first Estonian embassy in Berlin. The Estonian embassy is housed today in the same building on Hildebrandstrasse 5 that it was when it was first established a century ago.
Kaljulaid wrote on her own social media account on Monday: "Our embassy building in Berlin is historic – one of the few that has represented a country for 100 years.
"Even when a free Estonia was just a memory and a dream, this house belonged to a nation that had not actually existed on the world map for almost half a century," the president continued, noting that Berlin similarly had had its share of turbulent history and bore the scars.
She also wrote that present-day relations are strong between the two countries.
"Today, Germany is our good friend, a strong ally and a meaningful partner. Relations between our countries are close, but not just on the administrative and political level, but also with our people. Personal contacts, connections between families, friends and business partners, common and unifying cultural threads – this is what makes us close to Germany, and Germany to us," she said.
After meeting at the embassy the presidents headed to Bellevue Palace, the German president's official residence, where they discussed energy and climate policy, economic recovery, the coronavirus pandemic, the EU, cyber threats and the upcoming Three Seas Summit to be held in Tallinn in the fall, the president's office says.
Kaljulaid also visited two Estonia companies with facilities in Germany – smart bikes producer Ampler, based in Berlin and, on Sunday, ultra-capacitor manufacturer Skeleton, based in Dresden.
The visit was both the first official visit for the Estonian president following the coronavirus pandemic, and the first official visit Germany has received since the crisis started in early March.
Kaljulaid returns to Estonia Tuesday evening.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte