On the afternoon of June 12, 2002, President Jiang Zemin and President Arnold Ruutel of the Republic of Estonia had a formal talk. The two sides exchanged views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern in a friendly atmosphere.

Ruutel extended a warm welcome to Jiang for his visit. He said that as a small country with a small number of people, Estonia is grateful to China's immediate recognition and support after it regained independence. The two countries have carried out smooth cooperation since they established full diplomatic relations ten years ago. So the Estonian side is very glad at President Jiang's state visit to Estonia.

Jiang highly evaluated the smooth development of the bilateral ties between the two countries in the past decade. He emphasized that China and Estonia have had closer high-level exchanges and deeper mutual understanding and trust. Remarkable results have also been made in the various fields of trade and economy, culture and education, and the consensus on major international issues has expanded. Although China and Estonia differ in national conditions, history, culture, and tradition, they have always developed friendly cooperation on the basis of mutual respect each other, equality and mutual benefit, which is the key to the smooth development of the bilateral ties. Jiang said that it is a set policy of China to develop an overall friendly cooperative relations with Estonia. The Chinese side is willing to work with Estonia, maintain the active development momentum of bilateral relations, and push forward bilateral cooperation to a higher level.

With regard to the trade and economic cooperation between China and Estonia, Jiang said that Estonia is now China's biggest trading partner among the three Baltic countries with the rapid growth of the bilateral trade and economic ties. China and Estonia can have further cooperation in areas of transportation, information industry, fishing industry and timber processing. Seeing that both countries have a number of famous enterprises with solid strength, Jiang suggested that the two countries encourage their companies to establish direct contact so that they can start cooperation and make two-way investment.

Ruutel said that despite the remote distance between Estonia and China, the two countries are familiar to each other. The respective historical and cultural traditions help each side feel affectionate to the other side and ready to increase the mutual understanding. Ruutel said he totally agreed with Jiang's proposal for further developing friendly bilateral cooperation. He also accepted with pleasure Jiang's invitation to visit China. He said that with a long history and a magnificent culture, China has an important influence on the development of today's world. He hopes to see China personally as early as possible.

Ruutel briefed Jiang on the current social, economic situation and foreign policies of Estonia. Jiang said that the Chinese people are pleased to see the achievements that Estonia has made in the past decade in safegaurding its sovereignty, protecting its national culture, developing its economy and improve its peoples' living standard. He said that China respects the developing path and the domestic and foreign policy of Estonia, and wishes the Estonian people success.

The two sides exchanged opinions on regional situation and major international issues. As for China's view on current international situation and the basic stance on foreign policies, Jiang stressed that China advocates the peaceful foreign policies of independence, with the aim of maintaining world peace and promoting common development. China pays attention to developing mutually beneficial cooperative relations with the Baltic countries to realize common prosperity. China is also willing to join hands with the Baltic countries to do its own bit in keeping world peace and stability.

After the meeting, the two leaders attended the signing ceremony of the Treaty between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Estonia on Mutual Judicial Assistance in Criminal Matters and jointly met the press.