OREANDA-NEWS. On February 04, 2009 President Toomas Hendrik Ilves visited the Nakro Industrial Park, which provides jobs for more than a thousand residents of East-Viru County, reported the Official website www.president.ee.

Thirty-six small and mid-sized businesses operate at the Nakro Industrial Park, which was established 11 years ago, and where a total of 1,086 people from Narva, Sillamae and Narva-Joesuu are employed. There are plans to create 200 new jobs this year.

“Small businesses have always been the backbone of a market economy,” President Ilves said. “At this industrial park, the gaze of the entrepreneurs extends beyond today’s difficulties and we sorely need such optimism now.”

The production of the companies operating at the Nakro Industrial Park (founded by Aleksandr Brok) ranges from rubber clothing and footwear, furniture and handcrafted motorcycles to electronics.

President Ilves encouraged the entrepreneurs to make use of the government’s export refunds and called upon local governments to do more to promote enterprise in their areas.

“It is outside of Tallinn that cooperation between entrepreneurs, local governments and the national government is especially important,” President Ilves said.

Also President Toomas Hendrik Ilves visited one of the most important energy producers in the Baltic region—Narva Power Plants.

“Narva Power Plants is one of the pillars of Estonian energy security,” the President said at a meeting with the heads of Eesti Energia and the power plants.

Narva Power Plants, with its 1,527 employees, is one of the largest employers in the area and supplies electrical power to Estonian consumers and thermal energy to the city of Narva. It also produces liquid fuels, exports electrical power to other Baltic countries, and supplies the Nordic electrical market through the Estlink cable.

President Ilves was given an introduction to the future scenarios for energy production, including the issues related to possible nuclear power generation and the situation that will develop after the Lithuanian nuclear power plant is closed.

The Head of State acknowledged the work of the energy workers in East-Viru Country, saying, “Narva’s slogan is “The City of Good Energy”, but we should definitely add, “The City of Capable People”, because it is their work that keeps our homes lit and companies operating.”

President Ilves also labeled as forward looking the Narva Power Plants’ cost-saving program and cooperation between the company and the trade unions. The cooperation has resulted in a year-long collective contract that will come into force in April. The new contract will freeze the salaries of the energy workers while preserving all their current benefits.

“It is inevitable that everyone will have to sacrifice a fraction of their current wellbeing in the name of pulling through the current economic crisis, but our objective must be for everyone to benefit once Estonia starts its recovery,” President Ilves said.

At the Head of State’s meeting with Vladimir Aleksejev and Vladislav Ponjatovski, leaders of the power workers’ trade union, the discussion centered on the need for a substantive social dialogue between trade unions, employers and the government.