President Kersti Kaljulaid said at the opening ceremony of the ESTO 2019 Global Estonian Cultural Days in Finland on Friday that Estonians should strive to think and behave as a global nation.
“Estonia as a state today is available to its citizens at all times and anywhere. The e-state is the best instrument for promoting and maintaining global citizenship. Thus, as a free nation, we must think and behave like a global one,” the president said.
Kaljulaid added that Estonians’ actions need to aim at ensuring that the Estonian identity crosses oceans and state borders, and that Estonians all over the world can feel that they are a part of their nation. To that end, the Estonian identity needs to be an open and joyful one, and aim to bring people together, the president said.
“We don’t need to create new barriers or build a new iron curtain dividing our nation,” Kaljulaid said.
“We are all Estonians, regardless of whether we live in Räpina or Emmaste or in Helsinki or Montreal instead. ESTO was born from the need to be together and remember our roots during the long years when our homeland was shrouded by the Iron Curtain. This time, ESTO will also once more come ‘home’ to Estonia. Perhaps it will become a new tradition that Estonians all over the world will come together in Estonia in every five years to uphold the Estonian identity and jointly celebrate Estonia’s freedom,” the president said.
