1990–92 foreign minister, 1992 ambassador to Finland, 2002–03 representative of the Government of the Republic in the Convention on the Future of Europe. Writer, translator, film director, member of the Estonian Writers’ Union, of the Estonian Film-makers’ Union, of the Estonian PEN Club, honorary member of the Finnish Writers’ Union, Academician of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, honorary doctor of Helsinki University (1986), Saami University (1999, Finland), Turku University (2000, Finland), Saint Olaf University (2000, USA), Surrey University (2004, Great Britain), patron of numerous undertakings and organisations, bearer of many countries’ orders, European of the Year 1998. Winner of the Coudenhove-Kalergi European Prize (1996), of the Liberal International Prize (1999), of the Max Schmidheiny Freedom Prize (2001) and recipient of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award (2004).
* 29 March 1929 Tallinn
† 14 March 2006 Tallinn
President of the Republic
6 Oct. 1992–8 Oct 2001
