OREANDA-NEWS. 11 March 2008 Prime Minister Andrus Ansip met with Wolfgang Schдuble, German Minister of Internal Affairs, with whom the situation after the expansion of the Schengen Information System and the measures for battling against cyber-crime were discussed. Both sides admitted that the cooperation between the two countries has been great in both security issues and in a broader sense.

The Prime Minister thanked Germany for its efficient actions during the German Presidency upon the joining of new Member States with Schengen. He noted that in Estonia, the Schengen Information System is used very actively in the everyday work of both the border guard and the police.

When speaking about cyber-security, the Prime Minister thanked Wolfgang Schдuble for German participation in the establishment of a NATO cyber security centre in Estonia.

As cyber security is a transnational problem, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of international cooperation. “In the battle against cyber-crime, the harmonisation of legal terminology and the development of legislative drafting against international cyber-crime are very important,” he said.

Wolfgang Schдuble pointed out that in cyber security measures, the importance of the exchange of cyber security related information between countries, and the principle of subsidiarity cannot be underestimated. “We cannot sit by and wait for a European Union regulation on cyber security, but must support each other in this every day,” Schдuble said.

Today, a meeting was held with the representatives of the German Parliament Bundestag, with whom mainly foreign policy was discussed. Among other things, the importance of supporting democratic development in Georgia and Ukraine was addressed. Also, the great relations between the two countries were discussed, at which the Prime Minister pointed out the important role of Germany in the development of Estonia after the restoration of independence.

The wider purpose of the visit is the celebration of the 90th Anniversary of the Republic of Estonia in Berlin. Within the framework of the visit, the Prime Minister presented Ludwig Biewer, manager of the scientific archive of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the Fourth Class Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana.

Ludwig Biewer handed over to the Tallinn City Archives his research on the archive materials that were taken to Germany in 1944 and that the government of the Federal Republic of Germany returned to Tallinn in 1990. Biewer has been a long-term investigator of the diplomatic relations between Estonia and Germany.

In the course of the celebrations of the anniversary year of the Republic of Estonia, Andrus Ansip will also meet with the Prime Minister of Baden-Wьrtenberg, Gьnther Oettinger.