Shanghai Expo will go down in history: Estonia's FM
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Estonia's Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said recently that Shanghai Expo had achieved many successes, which brought benefit to not only China but also the whole world.
"I believe, Shanghai Expo will go down in history like other former Expos," Paet said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.
Paet, who visited China twice this year, attended the opening ceremony of the Shanghai Expo and activities on Estonia's National Pavilion Day.
Speaking of the significance of an Expo be held in a developing country for the first time, Paet said the Shanghai Expo had caught worldwide attention to Asia, especially to China. Furthermore, the Expo had established and boosted transnational ties and cooperation. The participation in such event "granted Estonia the opportunity to show itself to China and the world."
He thought that the development of Estonia just conformed to the theme of Shanghai Expo "Better City, Better Life," as the application of new technologies has renovated and simplified the city life in his country.
Under the theme of "Save City", there are friendly-looking piggy banks in the Estonian Pavilion to collect good ideas from visitors on making the world's cities better places to live, and these ideas will be published on Estonia's official Expo website, Paet said.
The number of visitors to the Estonian Pavilion during the Shanghai Expo reached over 2 million and many Estonian enterprisers, artists, scholars and universities have found their potential partners, he added.
To promote exchanges in economic, cultural, humanistic and other fields, Estonia opened its consulate general in Shanghai in the first half of this year. In addition, the Confucius Institute was established in Tallinn on Sept. 22, as further understanding in the fields of language and culture will effectively enhance bilateral economic cooperation.
On the issues of further deepening the Chinese-Estonian cooperation, the minister said Estonia was the nearest EU country to China. With the rapid development in Tallinn's airport in recent years, the Estonian government is seeking a long-term strategic partner for the Estonian Airlines.
Direct flights between the two sides will increase density in humanistic, tourist and educational exchanges and create more business opportunities for the Chinese and Estonian enterprisers, Paet said.
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