EMFA
During his meeting in Tallinn today with Commissioner for Development of the European Commission Andris Piebalgs, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet confirmed that Estonia will be opening an Eastern Partnership Training Centre at the beginning of next year that intends to train young government officials from Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus.

Paet stated that with the opening of the Eastern Partnership Training Centre, Estonia will be doing its part to give the Eastern Partnership programme substance. The goal of the centre is to reform and strengthen the public services in the EU Eastern Partnership countries.

“We have tried to base our development co-operation on the principle that we will help our partner countries first and foremost in the sectors in which we ourselves are successful—in other words, carrying out reforms to support development in the areas of democracy, rule of law, education, and the economy,” said Paet. “Estonia is primarily active in the region where our transition experience will have the most value. It is also our goal in giving development aid to focus on developing specific sectors in accordance with the needs of each nation,” added Foreign Minister Paet, mentioning Estonia’s activities in developing the health care system in Afghanistan, providing information society trainings in Moldova and Ukraine, and holding training seminars on EU integration and democratic civil controls in Georgia.

While speaking about Estonia’s financial contribution to the European Union’s development co-operation, Foreign Minister Paet mentioned that Estonia contributes over 2/3 of its development co-operation budget to the EU budget. “European Union development policy is an important factor in Estonia’s development co-operation. Through the EU’s development co-operation activities we are represented in nations and regions where we lack bilateral activity, for example Africa,” said Paet.

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