OREANDA-NEWS. From the 15th to the 17th of March, President Valdis Zatlers was on a working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany at the invitation of President Horst Kohler, participating in the opening of the German-Baltic Year of Culture in Berlin. During his visit, President Zatlers will met with the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, H.E. Horst Kцhler, the President of the Republic of Lithuania, H.E. Valdas Adamkus, and the President of the Riigikogu, Estonia’s Parliament, Ene Ergma, who were also participating in the opening ceremonies of Essentia Baltica 2008. President Kцhler and the Presidents of the three Baltic states are patrons of the Baltic Year of Culture in Germany and of Germany’s Culture Days in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

On the 15th, the Baltic Presidents and the President of Germany attended the opening concert by Kremerata Baltica at the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by the renowned violinist Gidon Kremer. Essentia Baltica 2008 will offer a cultural programme throughout the year, organized by the Embassies of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and by the Embassies of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Baltic capitals. Events in Germany and in the three Baltic states will mark the ninetieth anniversaries of Baltic independence. On the 16th, President Zatlers met with Christel Hapach-Kasan, the leader of the Baltic cooperation group in the Bundestag, Germany’s Parliament, Hagen Graf Lambsdorff, the former Ambassador of Germany to Latvia, and other political leaders.