President Kaljulaid on working visit to US this week
President Kersti Kaljulaid is on a working visit to the US this week, where she is scheduled to meet with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), participate in the work of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), as well as meet with a number of state leaders and ambassadors to the UN to discuss Estonia's bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
"Our alliance with the US, both bilaterally and within NATO, is and remains a pillar of our security policy," Foreign Policy Adviser to the President Lauri Kuusing said according to a press release. "Estonia, Europe as a whole and the US alike all benefit from strong and values-based transatlantic relations."
On Monday, Ms Kaljulaid is scheduled to meet with President of Trinidad and Tobago Paula-Mae Weekes and Vice-President of Kiribati Teima Onorio as well as the ambassadors to the UN of several different countries. These meetings will focus on Estonia's bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council from 2020-2021.
On Tuesday, the Estonian president will speak at a high-level discussion hosted by President of the United Nations General Assembly María Fernanda Espinosa as well as speak at an event as co-chair of the UN's Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) steering group.
She will also participate in bilateral meetings with President of Nepal Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Vice-President of Colombia Marta Lucía Ramírez before hosting UN ambassadors that evening at an Estonian Independence Day reception.
On Wednesday, Ms Kaljulaid will meet in Washington with a number of senators and Speaker Pelosi as well as deliver a speech focussing on security and transatlantic relations at the Brookings Institution, a US think tank.
On Thursday, she will meet with members of Congress and participate in an expert discussion at the Heritage Foundation.
The president is scheduled to return to Estonia on Friday evening.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
