Public administration minister to work in Valga for one week this autumn
Minister of Public Administration Janek Mäggi (Centre) and officials from the Ministry of Finance, of which Mäggi's office is a part, are scheduled to work in the Southern Estonian border town of Valga during the first week of October.
During the week that the minister is scheduled to work in Southern and Southeastern Estonia, meetings are planned with businesspeople, municipal leaders as well as local residents, spokespeople for the Ministry of Finance said on Monday.
In addition to Valga, Mäggi is also scheduled to work one day each in Võru and Põlva Counties.
"We chose Valga as the headquarters for the ministry because in addition to Ida-Viru County, Southeastern Estonia and Valga in particular is an Estonian small town of unjustifiably controversial repute," said the minister. "Valga is special because of its status as a border town."
When Estonia and Latvia gained independence in 1918, Valga was one of the most serious points of contention in negotiations on the border agreement between the two neighbouring countries. The city was halved almost a decade later, on 1 April, 1927, as a result of the work of an international commission led by British Col. Stephen George Tallents. To this day, great regional contradictions are revealed in the two towns, including cross-border trade, spokespeople for the ministry said.
"With my week of working in Valga, I want to reaffirm that the remotest fringes of Estonia are places of fascinating vitality which, unlike what the song says, are not depressing, but rather capable of providing overworked people with new energy and incentive," Mäggi added.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS