We should work together to encourage further activities that build new constituencies on both sides of these borders for a mutually profitable future relationship. In this regard the issue of social integration remains important. Latvia and Estonia have made great progress in advancing the integration of Russian speakers into their societies. Both countries are putting new laws on the books and creating new facts on the ground. We support the judgments made by the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities that both countries have complied with his recommendations in this area.
Social integration is a long-term process.
The U.S. is in nearly its 224th year of working on social integration in our own country, and we realize how difficult it can be. That is why we are supporting job retraining and language training for Russian-speakers to enable them to participate more fully in Estonian and Latvian society. Their goal was summarized well by one of my very distinguished predecessors, Robert Lovett, who served as Under Secretary of State to Secretary George C. Marshall. His generation's vision spanned the entire continent. But their times, unfortunately, could not.