The fund is backed jointly by the U.S. Agency for International Development and financier George Soros. The money is meant to give the Baltics technical assistance, train specialists and intensify the work of non-government organizations. A new generation of aid programmes will be launched through the fund. The fund will complement existing regional programmes, such as a Baltic-American enterprise fund and a regional energy programme. An independent board in the United States will administer it.
Current plans are for the fund to operate for a period of ten years.
To Estonia Will Grow January 16 - The Charter of Partnership to be signed on Friday will contain provisions for direct U.S. military aid to Estonia. Estonia s Foreign Minister and United States Deputy Secretary of State will chair the future commission. The increase in aid is indicated by growing allocations last year and in 1998. U.S. military aid totalled 1.2 million dollars last year. January 14 - Foreign Ministers Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Ioannis Kasoulides of Cyprus signed an agreement Wednesday in Nicosia on the abolition of visas between Estonia and Cyprus.