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The head of the Integration Foundation, Irene Kaosaar, said that the relocation of the headquarters to the border city serves several strategic goals.

"First, it brings the state closer to the people of Narva. I consider it very positive when institutions of the state are located in different places all over Estonia. In the same manner, starting from today our state is more present in Narva and closer to the people," Kaosaar said.

She said the second objective was to offer highly educated people opportunities to work close to where they live.

"For Narva this means 20 new skilled jobs, which is the number of jobs the Integration Foundation will have in Narva. By the end of January, 16 people will be working at the foundation's Narva office, most of whom come from East Viru County. Our job competitions in general have attracted large numbers of applications and have been successful, which demonstrates that we are awaited here," Kaosaar said.

As the third and most important change, Kaosaar described increasing the availability of quality teaching in Estonian language and necessary support for integration in the region that has a large number of residents whose mother tongue is other than Estonian.  

"These people need more support from the state in learning the Estonian language and in other fields, and that's what we will be offering in Narva,” Kaosaar said. "The Estonian Language House to open in Narva in the summer will help make our day-to-day work even more effective and I hope that the people of East Viru County will quickly find the path to us."

The headquarters of the Integration Foundation at present is situated on temporary premises at the address 3 Kerese Street in Narva. In the future it will be located in the building of the Estonian Language House at the address 2 Linda Street in the heart of the city. The building is expected to be opened this summer.

The representation of the foundation in Tallinn, which until now was located in Ulemiste City, has relocated and now shares premises with the Estonian Language House of Tallinn at 5 Ravala Avenue.

The language houses of Tallinn and Narva are intended to become centers of activity where people whose native language is not Estonian could learn and practise Estonian and participate in Estonian culture more broadly. Among other things, the houses will organize free Estonian language courses, develop learning and methodological materials.