Q What will be your position be in Estonia and what does this new position mean to Canada-Estonia bilateral relations?
A I will be the Head of the Office of the Embassy of Canada in Tallinn. Canada runs a network of missions in the Baltics. We have an embassy in Riga and Ambassador Rex is accredited as Ambassador to all three countries. I will be the first resident diplomat in Tallinn but very much part of that network of three missions. I will be reporting to the Ambassador therefore working on the bilateral relationship but also with the specific mandate for commercial and economic relations between Canada and all three Baltic states. I will be accredited as a diplomat to all three and I will be heading the trade program or what we call the International Business Development Program. This is where we seek to increase economic and commercial relations through exports, investments and cooperation in science, technology and innovation and other areas, to improve prosperity in both countries and Europe generally through economic exchanges. We also have the new trade agreement between Canada and the EU, the Canada-Europe Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement, called CETA, and I should add that all three Baltic states have ratified CETA at the national level, which is very encouraging to Canada. All of the economically meaningful parts of the agreement are already in force and have been since 2017, which means that tariffs have been reduced, market access has been improved, access to government procurement, and there are many provisions that lead to increased economic relations and this situation was really created to ensure that Canadian and Estonian businesses can take advantage of this new trade agreement and other opportunities to boost our mutual prosperity.
In terms of what the position means and the implications it is clear that in putting in new resources, a new position into Tallinn, and I should be clear that this is a permanent position in our network so that after my term I will be replaced by someone else, this is an addition to Canada’s diplomatic network globally and in Europe in particular, I think it reflects the importance Canada puts on the relationship with all of our partners in NATO and the European Union. NATO is of course the foundational alliance that has guaranteed peace and security in the post war world with tremendous success and Canada is a strong supporter of NATO and all NATO members and this is part of our engagement with NATO partners. The EU is also tremendously important to Canada both as an economic partner but in the full range of international issues of concern. The European Union states are often on Canada’s side on key issues in terms of advancing a certain view of how the world should work and how countries should be run in terms of respect for human rights and the rule of law, the multilateral system, the various issues that my Ministers speak about regularly, so this is a demonstration of Canada’s commitment to that and our desire to take advantage of those ties to build an even stronger relationship between Canada and Estonia and the other Baltic states and EU countries.
Q So is your connection with Estonia stronger in some other ways? Do you have other connections to Estonia?
A I do, and I will mention two. I have spent the past couple of years at Global Affairs at the European Bureau which manages our relationships with the countries of the EU, and the EU itself and I have been responsible for relations with a number of countries including Estonia and the other Baltic states so I have been working on these files and following developments in the region but more than that, I have a personal connection that goes way back. My maternal great grandparents immigrated from Narva to Medicine Hat, Alberta some time before 1918. The first written record we have of them is a census in 1918 showing them in Medicine Hat coming from Narva. They didn’t even bring all their children with them. They had an infant not old enough to travel who stayed behind a couple of years. My grandmother was born in Canada in an Estonian speaking household so she spoke it in the home as a native language and my mother who was looked after by her grandparents when her mother was working learned Estonian from her grandparents as a child. Unfortunately, we did not keep the language in the family. Only one word of Estonian made it down through the generations to me which is “Tere” which is ‘hello’. But it is a connection. My grandmother, the matriarch of our family has passed away now but she was strong figure in our family and we very much felt the Estonian connection as children and Estonia was always a fascinating country for us as children growing up because it seemed so exotic.
Q What are you now looking forward to learn and to do in Estonia? Personal discoveries?
A Certainly I am looking forward to the opportunity to go and live and work in Europe. I have done Asian postings, four-years in Tokyo, more recently four years in Washington D.C., so the opportunity to have a posting in Europe is certainly something professionally and personally rewarding. I am very much looking to delivering on what the government expects of me. They obviously have expectations that there will be outcomes. The primary focus is on the commercial side, enhancing commercial relations so we will be looking for opportunities to connect Canadian businesses with counterparts in the Baltic states in order to enable them to take advantage of opportunities. I’m looking forward to what we call successes, or ‘wins’ where companies make sales or form partnerships or the types of commercial activities that suggest there is profit to be made and benefits to be had. I am also looking to the other half of my job, the bilateral relationship with Estonia and reciprocating the warmth that we’ve had from our Estonian guests, the Estonian Ambassador here and the previous Ambassador have both been good friends to Canada, and to the department, and I look forward to making many more contacts in Estonia in order to connect Canadians with Estonians in ways that benefit us both.
Q Thank you so much for this and I have a feeling that when you return you will have more blue, black and white memories.
A I think the first thing I’ll have to do is put a sauna in my house. Everyone there has a sauna in their home.
Q Thank you and is there anything you would like to add?
A I would like to say that Canada very much values our relationship with Estonia, we value the Estonian diaspora here in Canada which we know is a very active and engaged group. I was just talking with the person coordinating the construction of the new Estonian Centre in Toronto and so we value the contribution of Estonian Canadians in our multicultural society, composed largely of immigrants, all of the different nations that make up Canada contributed to our cultural tapestry and Estonia, although certainly a smaller country, has made a significant contribution so we can look forward to continuing to have positive and productive relations with our friends in Europe.
Ülle Baum, Ottawa
