Our Ambassador [to Estonia, Michael C. Polt,] just returned from Washington, where he attended the first-ever Global U.S. Ambassadors Conference, which brought together the State Department's senior overseas leadership together in one venue to discuss the road ahead in U.S. foreign policy under the leadership of Secretary of State Clinton and the President Obama. Back here in Estonia, key members of Embassy Tallinn will join Ambassador Polt this week at his residence to develop our policy agenda for Estonia for 2011.
We are fortunate to have such as close friend and ally in Estonia and look forward to continuing our tight collaboration on bilateral, regional, and global issues, ranging from common NATO security -- including energy and cyber security -- and intensified economic and trade ties. People-to-people relations between our two countries will also be high on the agenda. As Secretary of State Clinton noted during the recent visit of Foreign Minister Paet to Washington, "we have a strong and unwavering commitment to engagement between our two nations. It's built on mutual respect, common security concerns, shared democratic values, and a history of cooperation from air policing in the Baltic region to development assistance in Afghanistan."