Baltic nation active in Belt, Road Initiative, champions free trade

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid recently wrapped up her first-ever visit to China and has been particularly interested in the country's rapid development over the years as she is a trained economist.

Kaljulaid appreciates China's commitment to open markets, she said in an exclusive interview with China Daily in Beijing.

The two countries share a common appreciation for free trade and both aspire to be technologically developed countries, the president said.

Kaljulaid believes free trade between countries, unhindered by artificial restrictions, provides the only opportunity for small economies to grow. "For us, it is important to get as many countries to support this approach as possible," she said, adding that multilateralism and free trade are guarantors of future global development.

During her four-day visit last week, Kaljulaid met with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, and also attended the Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin.

"Relations between China and Estonia are at an all-time high," she wrote on her Twitter account after meeting Xi, adding that the two heads of state discussed such issues as trade relations and e-commerce.

Kaljulaid said Estonia considers China as its most important trading partner in Asia. "On the one hand, China appreciates the good quality of our food such as dairy products, while e-commerce has also strongly emerged in our country, and this offers interesting challenges and points of cooperation for both countries," she said.

As a participant in the Belt and Road Initiative and a member of the "16+1" cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European Countries, Estonia has seen plenty of BRI-related cooperative outcomes as well as with the China-CEEC platform, Kaljulaid said.

She hopes Estonia will strengthen BRI cooperation with China in such areas as e-commerce, logistics, interconnectivity projects and agriculture, as the Baltic country has rich resources including lumber and dairy.

Benefiting from a strategic geographical location, Estonia can serve as an excellent gateway for China to enter the European market, she said. "I believe this is an extremely good opportunity for beneficial cooperation between our two countries because Estonia is tiny, but is still a steppingstone into the market."

The president highlighted the close cultural and educational relations and an increasing number of tourists between China and Estonia.

"We see Chinese students in Estonia, and we have also confirmed that institutions make Estonian students a little bit more aware of Chinese culture. But I have to say we still have to work on that," she added.

Kaljulaid recalled how Estonian people, including herself, were amazed by a dance gala presented by the Shanghai Opera House in the 2018 Saaremma Opera Festival on Estonia's largest island this summer.

"People enthusiastically listened to the opera's interpretation of European music and also their own," she said. "It was absolutely different from what we are used to in Europe, but was wonderful and unique."

Kaljulaid said she wants to know more about China.

"I hope to return sometime when I am not president as just an ordinary tourist and look at more of this wonderful country," she said.