President Ilves opened Estonia's national day at Expo Milan
President Toomas Hendrik Ilves opened Estonia's national day at the Expo Milan 2015 universal exhibition on Sunday.
"This year, food is the headline issue of Expo Milan and where else could we discuss food as a pleasure other than Italy. However, we also have to admit that hunger still remains a serious issue in several places and represents a responsibility shared by the world in general, even if the suggested solutions are local by nature," stated President Ilves in his opening address.
"Most of the food is raised, grown, processed, sold and eaten at regional level, which means that as countries we should support rural areas, their infrastructures and technological development to give small-scale producers access to larger markets," Ilves said.
The doors of Estonia will remain open in Italy for six months – from May until October – to millions of people from hundreds of different countries. Estonia is the only Nordic country to take part in the Universal Exposition.
The keywords that describe the Estonian pavilion are Nordic intelligence, clean food and nature, outstanding design, world level music led by Arvo Pärt and, above all, the special people living in Estonia. The permanent exhibition in the pavilion, entitled "Head Eesti asjad" (Good Estonian Things), represents creations through the symbiosis of various Estonian products, issues and ideas.
The companies present at the exhibition include Snakefloors and Bolefloor (floors), Reliefwalls (wall covering materials), BORG (sofas), Renard (motor bikes), Viks (bikes) and Estonia (pianos).
Editor: S. Tambur