KIEV, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed Ukraine's interest in joining the Three Seas Initiative during a meeting with Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid in Tallinn on Tuesday.
The Three Seas Initiative, also known as the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black Sea Initiative, is a forum of 12 states in the European Union, which are located in Central and Eastern Europe. The first Three Seas Initiative summit was held in Croatia in 2016.
"Ukraine and Estonia, as important players in the Baltic-Black Sea region, are interested in the implementation of joint projects and initiatives on economy, infrastructure, environment," Zelensky told the Estonian leader.
"During today's talks, we have discussed separately the implementation of the Three Seas Initiative, and most importantly, Ukraine's substantive interest in joining it," he said.
The two leaders signed a joint statement on further cooperation between Ukraine and Estonia.
Zelensky expressed gratitude to Estonia for consistently supporting Ukraine in reforming its security and defense sector according to NATO standards, military training and cooperation on cybersecurity.
Kaljulaid reaffirmed Estonia's commitment to continuing support for Ukraine's reforms, saying that her country will provide relevant assistance in the fields of e-governance and digitalization of the public sector.
"We believe that Ukraine has the potential to be the engine of the economy in the region. But the prerequisite for this is that investors need to be sure that their investments are protected," Kaljulaid said. "I know that Ukraine, the government and institutions are taking specific steps in this direction. But for the international economic communities, a strong signal is that specific incidents will be resolved."
