Estonia - Overview:
Estonia has a total population of approximately 1.4 million people and is situated in eastern Europe sharing borders with Latvia and Russia. The country was part of the USSR from 1940 until 1991, when it regained its independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and since then has been steadily developing a modern market economy and increasing its ties with the West. Estonia was invited to join NATO at a summit in Prague in November 2002 and became a full member of the EU in May 2004. It has also been a member of the WTO since November 1999.

The city of Tallinn, situated on the north coast near the opening to the Gulf of Finland, is home to over a quarter of Estonia's population and is the country's capital and largest city.

Since the beginning of the 1990s Estonia has carried out dramatic restructuring of its economy, which initially led to a period of decline. However, the country experienced strong economic growth in the second half of the 1990s and this trend looks set to continue. According to the Statistical Office of Estonia the country experienced economic growth of 5.6 per cent in 2002. Estonia was also placed 22nd in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report for 2003, which ranks countries based on a combination of their macroeconomic environment, technology and the quality of public institutions. This was a significant improvement on the country's position in the 2002 report (26th) and placed Estonia top of the 10 countries that joined the EU in May 2004.

The economy is largely dependent on services, such as banking and tourism, and light industry. There are also well established oil-shale energy, shipbuilding and transportation industries. More recently, electronics, telecommunications and information technology have been promising areas of growth.

The city of Tallinn is at the centre of Estonia's transport infrastructure. The country's only international airport is situated just 4 kilometres from Tallinn and offers direct flights to and from numerous destinations throughout Europe including Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Helsinki, Kiev, London, Moscow, Riga, Stockholm and Vienna. The Port of Tallinn, comprised of the four main commercial ports of Muuga, Tallinn City Port, Kopli and Padliski, is the largest in Estonia and handles the majority of the country's total trade. It is also one of the biggest cruise and passenger ports in the Baltics and has regular ferry services to both Helsinki and Stockholm. Ferries to Helsinki run several times a day and take approximately 4 hours, while ferries to Stockholm take about 15 hours to complete the journey. There are also hydrofoils and catamarans in operation for part of the year, significantly reducing travel times. Tallinn, also benefits from international railway lines, which connect the city with Moscow, St. Petersburg and Minsk.