Dinner speech to Estonia's Prime Minister Tiit Vähi

Prime Minister Vähi, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for hosting this dinner in my honour and for the kind words you have just extended to me and my country. This is my first official visit abroad since becoming Norwegian Prime Minister. Getting to know the neighbours is important for any newcomer on the block, and that is exactly why I am here.

A book published in Norway shortly after the break-up of the Soviet Union, was entitled "A Dream of Freedom - Baltic Voices".

It contains interviews with people in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania about their lives, - past and present, - and about their dreams for the future.

Their voices bear witness to five decades of oppression and deprivation under foreign rule, to lives compromised, uprooted and destroyed.

We meet Elmar Joosep. He is one of the leaders of Memento, the movement which is uncovering the truth about Stalinist repression in Estonia. Elmar has been trying to find out how many Estonians were actually deported to Siberia in June of 1940. It's like doing a complicated jig-saw puzzle, he says.

Sifting through tons of archival material, Elmar has learned that his own father, a policeman, was shot in a labour camp outside Sverdlovsk 26 April 1942. We knew that he was dead, but it took us 48 years to get it confirmed, Elmar says.

We hear Mati Hint, then of the Popular Front or Rahvarinne, talk about the damaging effect of Soviet Russian imperialism on Estonian culture and language. He is a well-known patron of the Estonian language who also warns against negative linguistic and other cultural influences from the West.

I agree that Estonia should be reunited with Europe, Mati says. But this must be a Europe which fully accepts cultural diversity, not a Europe which seeks cultural assimilation.

We also meet some of Estonia's entrepreneurs, people who have taken advantage of the new opportunities created by economic and political reform. Enn Rohula is one of them. He is in the export-import business. Enn is newly rich, yet, professes to care more about investment than about flashing his wealth.

Heldur Tsopp is a pioneering farmer. He has done well on recently privatised land. The success has made him self-confident. There is no reason for us to feel inferior, Heldur says. Yes, we do lack the experience of the West when it comes to private entrepreneurship, but we're certainly no less capable of learning than you are.

Such voices come to mind in connection with this visit.

They express Estonia's determination to recapture decades of lost opportunities and catch up within a short time span. They also explain why you can and will succeed.

At the end of the day, we all live and thrive by the work we do ourselves as individuals, as communities, and as societies. And the greatest resources you possess, now as in the past, are those of the Estonian people.

For five decades, relations between Norway and Estonia were frozen. Now we are building new networks - bilaterally, within the framework of 5+3 in the Nordic-Baltic region, and within the Council of the Baltic Sea States. Norway and Estonia are creating a multi-purpose partnership. We are aware of the many challenges you are facing and stand ready, as it is our duty, to work with you, offering advice, assistance, opportunities, and an international environment conducive to prosperity and security.

Together, we are consolidating democracy and the rule of law. We do it in the Council of Europe. To become a member of the Council of Europe is a distinction which Estonia has already earned. Both our countries are now scrutinized by the Council and held to the highest possible standards of humanity and civilization.

The Council of Europe is now seized with questions of minorities and immigrants, as well as the fight against racism and xenophobia. We must all learn to deal with these issues and counter such tendencies in order to keep Europe as a refuge of enlightened diversity and tolerance.

Estonia aims at even closer political and economic integration with the West. Membership of the European Union is an important goal. As a non-member of the EU, Norway is supporting you politically to the best of our ability. We expect to see Estonia on the starting line alongside other candidate countries when negotiations for member- ship begin after the intergovernmental conference. I have offered to share with the Prime Minister some of our experiences in negotiating with the European Union.

Today, Norway and Estonia are also working together within the framework of NATO and the Western European Union. We are partners in peace and peacekeeping. Norway has helped train and equip a Baltic peacekeeping batalion, BALTBAT. NATO's PfP-program is making the line thinner between NATO members and non-member countries. PfP symbolizes the changed nature of the Alliance following the end of the Cold War.

NATO will continue to change with the circumstances. The Alliance remains open to democratic countries. No doors will be closed. No outside power will have a veto over NATO's own decisions, which are taken by consensus among its members.

Our goal is enhanced security for everybody. We are putting particular emphasis on how to avoid creating new dividing lines in Europe.

NATO is actively engaging Russia in closer cooperation. Norway has been doing this regionally and bilaterally to mutual benefit, as evidenced by the Barents Sea cooperation and the successful visit of President Yeltsin to Oslo in March of this year.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

While I come here to build new connections between our countries and people, I remain mindful of the old ones, dating back to the time of the Vikings.

Two of Norway's early kings, Olav I and Olav II, are both linked to the city of Tallinn - one as a slave, the other as a saint.

The first Olav - Olav Tryggvason - spent part of his childhood here. Fleeing enemies in Norway, he and his mother were captured by Estonians and sold as slaves. Olav was later bought free by King Valdemar of Novgorod. He returned to his homeland, where he was king for five years until he fell in battle in the year 1000.

The second Olav - Olav Haraldsson - captivated Estonians rather than being taken captive. In the year 1030, he fell as a martyr in the battle of Stiklestad. Olav II came to be seen as the patron saint of Norway and parts of Northern Europe.

Tallinn's Oleviste kirik or St. Olav's church is a beautiful expression of how Estonians have preserved the memory of Saint Olav for almost a thousand years.

We should draw inspiration from this as we continue to work for our common prosperity and security, and as we expand both political cooperation and cultural exchange.

In closing, I propose a toast to you, Prime Minister Vahi, to your wife and to the people of Estonia.

Skål.