Baltic States – CIS, Estonia, Good for Business, Investments, Markets and Companies, Tourism

Valentina Matvijenko.

"We are very interested in having good relations with Estonia. You are our close neighbors and historically we are old partners," Matvijenko who has held the post for eight years, told Eesti Päevaleht.

She said that so far Estonian companies have invested only about 30 million US dollars in St. Petersburg.

For comparison, Finnish companies have invested about a billion US dollars in St. Petersburg. While Finland is St. Petersburg's second largest foreign trade partner, Estonia is 36th.

Estonians have so far invested mainly in the hotel business in St. Petersburg. Three years ago Manutent Ltd, a company linked to Urmas Sõõrumaa, opened Sokos Hotel Vasilievsky with 255 rooms in St. Petersburg. This summer a subsidiary of Pro Kapital Group will open a 109-room Domina hotel in central city at a cost of 31 million euros.