Article published in the newspaper Narvskaya Gazeta on September 8, 2007

The Ambassador of the United States of America: "Estonia's biggest problem is integration"

The new Ambassador of the United States of America, Mr. Stanley Davis Phillips, paid his first business visit to our town. Mr. Davis agreed to give an exclusive interview just to "Narvskaja Gazeta".

The conversation with Mr. Phillips took place, we might say, on American territory – at the American Corner of the Narva Central Library. Mr. Phillips remarked that this was his first trip to our region in the four months that had passed since his inauguration as the U.S. Ambassador to Estonia. The purpose of the trip was partially business, partially familiarization with the area, and tourism to some extent.

"My wife wanted very much to come with me. But because of her father's illness she had to return to the United States, and she is sorry now that she is not with me," said Mr. Ambassador.

Mr. Phillips started performing his duties as an ambassador not long ago and we decided to find out about his plans for the future.

"I will continue the wonderful cooperation between our countries established in the previous years. I intend to strengthen the existing cultural, educational, business and, of course, political relations," said Mr. Phillips, describing priorities of his work. 

After regular questions asked in such cases we decided to touch upon a serious topic. During the morning [of the interview], the news portal ETV24 published the results of a public opinion poll regarding the presence of Estonian Armed Forces in Iraq. The results show that 64 percent of the respondents are against the participation of Estonian forces in the Iraqi campaign.

Soon MPs will have to decide whether to extend the ESTPLA mission for one more year or to withdraw these forces from Iraq. What would happen to Estonian-American relations if MPs would consider public opinion? Just a reminder, that each time a coalition ally would withdraw its forces from Iraq, it would be sharply criticized by the administration of the President of the USA.

"We respect Estonia for the support to the U.S. in the Iraqi mission. We also understand that the Iraqi campaign is a subject of vast public discussion not only in Estonia, but also in the United States. It is a complicated issue. Nevertheless, people all over the world understand the importance of Iraq. The issue is open for discussion and that is good. I do believe that residents of Estonia will continue to support us in Iraq," responded Mr. Phillips.

Visa Issues

We could not miss [discussing] the topic of  possible visa free travel between Estonia and America. This is what Mr. Ambassador told us: "The issue was considered by the Congress and President Bush is supporting this initiative. But there is one item that will affect the citizens of Estonia and other countries. It is the Department of Homeland Security which emerged after September 11 – [they are] responsible for defending our country from terrorist attacks. But we still hope that in the near future the [visa free travel] regime will be implemented."

The Ambassador's View on the Situation in Estonia

We decided to ask Mr. Ambassador as much as possible about our country's inner problems and his solutions to them.

Lines on the border

"When I was entering Narva I saw several kilometers of trucks [waiting] in line that were trying to get to Russia. This is simply incredible. I had heard about it before, and now I saw it, but I still cannot believe what I saw. You may say that the border is overloaded with work at best. This is depressing for local people and for businessmen, whose business is connected to Russia. I think that Russia should be concerned about the current situation, because the lines undermine [that] country's reputation," remarked Mr. Phillips.

Reform of Russian-Language Education

Mr. Ambassador said that it was very important as it was part of the integration process. "I learned from [local] officials and community representatives that integration is the highest public priority aimed at establishing cooperation between communities in all aspects of life, starting with education. It also means cooperation in business, culture and social spheres. All citizens should be going along one road and this road begins with language. This process is always very slow, and this reform is just one tiny step in this direction," responded Ambassador Phillips.

Estonian Economy

"The economy's growth rate is going down, which was expected in principle. From the point of view of building a market economy, Estonia has achieved excellent results compared with other countries of the former Soviet Union. The whole world got to know about your success. The growth of economy cannot develop at such a fast rate, therefore it slows down, but the level of economy is still high," Mr. Phillips said.

The biggest problem in Estonia…

"…is integration. America has been dealing with integration since the times when our country came to existence and is still dealing with it. After dozens of years of work on the problem, the situation has gotten better and better. I would want the Russian-speaking citizens of Estonia to take part in the life of the country on a higher level so that they would realize that they live in a great country. This would give them opportunity to participate more fully in Estonia's development, in creating their own future and the future of the country they live in," Ambassador Phillips replied.  

College, Electric power plant, Port

As we noted in the last issue, after visiting the library, Mr. Stanley Davis Phillips paid a visit to Tartu University's Narva College and to one of Narva power plants. The next day, Thursday, a trip was planned to the Port of Sillamäe.