Germany

Germany first recognised Estonia's independence de jure on 9 July 1921. Diplomatic relations between Estonia and Germany were restored on 28 August 1991. Thereafter, the respective embassies were re-opened in Bonn and Tallinn. In February 1999, Germany opened its new embassy building in Tallinn. Estonia’s historical embassy building in Berlin re-opened its doors in a formal ceremony attended by President Lennart Meri on 27 September 2001.

Estonian honorary consuls to Germany:
Estonian honorary consuls to Germany:
Ulf Lange, Hamburg
Horst Werner Maier-Hunke, Bonn
Helmut Aurenz, Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg
Klaus Hinrich Vater, Kiel
Jens O. Leisse, Schwerin
Til Assmann, Bremen
Astrid von der Malsburg, Frankfurt am Mainl

Estonia’s and Germany’s membership in the European Union and NATO provides a framework for bilateral communication. Shared aspects of culture and history are also a uniting factor in our relations. The closeness and frequency of bilateral contacts has grown year by year and good co-operation has developed on the level of the countries’ governments, parliaments, and local governments..

Visits of importance

Agreements

Estonia and Germany’s ties are based upon a multi-faceted agreement base. Since 1 May 2004, economic ties between the two nations have been governed by the EU’s internal market rules, and areas under the jurisdiction of individual member states are governed by bilateral agreements.

• Joint Statement on the Basis of the Relationship (came into force 29 Apr 1993);
• Agreement on Assigning German Teachers to Estonian Schools (came into force 21 Mar 1994);
• General agreement on defence-related co-operation and agreement on the securing the conditions of mutual working visits (came into force 21 Sep1994);
• Agreement on German Wartime Graveyards in the Republic of Estonia (came into force 26 Oct 1996);
• Agreement on Commercial Seafaring (came into force 6 Jun 1996);
• Framework Agreement on Counselling and Co-operation (came into force 28 Feb 1997);
• Agreement on the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments (came into force 12 Jan 1997).
• Agreement on the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital (came into force 30 Dec 1998);
• Agreement on the Readmission of Persons and the Implementation Protocol of the Agreement (came into force 1. Mar 1999);
• Agreement on the Mutual Abolishment of the Visa Requirements (came into force 1 Mar 1999);
• Agreement on Reciprocal Protection of Classified Information (came into force 8 Feb 2001);
• Agreement on Cultural Co-operation (came into force 15 Aug 2002);
• Aviation agreement (came into force 27 Mar 2002);
• Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany on co-operation among schools (came into force 4 August 2010).

Defence-related cooperation

The legal basis for defence-related co-operation was established on 21 September 1994 with the conclusion of a memorandum of mutual understanding, in which the primary areas for co-operation were training, procurements, and logistics.

In recent years, Estonia and Germany’s defence-related cooperation has been active and broad-based, focusing mainly on practical co-operation. Germany has supported the air policing over the Baltic states and participated in the work of the Baltic Defence College and the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.

Germany has made a significant contribution to the training of Estonian soldiers and participated in many procurements for equipment and technology to be used by the Defence Forces.

Since autumn 2014, Lieutenant colonel Mark Trubok has worked as the Estonian defence attaché in Germany. Germany’s defence attaché to Estonia is Captain Lieutenant Harald N. Krempchen, who resides in Helsinki.

Economic cooperation

Estonia and Germany’s economic relations are primarily regulated by the rights and responsibilities of both nations as EU members, of which the most important are the principles of a common market (the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people within the borders of the common market). In addition to the previously mentioned agreements, the following bilateral economic agreements also exist between Estonia and Germany:

• Agreement on Finance Related Co-operation (came into force 10 Feb 1995);
• Agreement on Hiring Employees for the Widening of their Professional and Linguistic Skills (came into force 21 Aug 1995); The Agreement provides advanced professional and linguistic training for Estonian employees for up to 1 year (in special cases can be extended by 0.5 year) in the partner country on equal conditions with the employees of the host country;
• Framework Agreement on Counselling and Co-operation (provisionally applied on 28 Feb 1997);
• Agreement between the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic of Estonia and the Work and Social Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany to allow fitters of Estonian companies to erect log cabins in the Federal Republic of Germany and fitters of German companies to perform installations in the Republic of Estonia (came into force 13 Sep 02).

Trade

Bilateral economic relations between Germany and Estonia are constantly evolving. There is potential for more German direct investment as well as for growth in trade.

Germany ranks as Estonia's fourth trading partner (2019). The total trade turnover in 2019 was 2.6 billion euros (an 8.3% share) of which exports to Germany were 904 million (ranking 5th) and imports from Germany 1.69 billion euros (ranking 3rd).

In 2019, the main article group in exports to Germany was machinery and equipment (30%). In addition, other exports included wood and wooden products (12%), other manufactured goods.

The main articles of import were machinery and equipment (29%), and transportation vehicles (19.6%).

Estonian - German trade 2014-2019 (million EUR)

Source: Statistical Office of Estonia

German investments in Estonian businesses

German interest in investing in Estonia has grown remarkably after Estonia’s accession to the European Union. As of 31.12.2019, German direct investments in Estonia totalled 582 million EUR.

As of 31.12.2019, Estonian investments made in Germany totalled 42 million EUR.

The positive development of economic relations are supported by economic representations in both Estonia and Germany. Enterprise Estonia has a representation in Hamburg and a representative in Nuremberg, whose task it is to intermediate contacts between Estonian entrepreneurs, German entrepreneurs, and economic organisations. The Baltic-German Chamber of Commerce belongs to the world-wide network of German Chambers of Commerce and advises German and Estonian companies in operating in Estonia and in Germany. Every year, the Chamber of Commerce brings several German companies to visits in Estonia. The Chamber of Commerce also represents the most important German fairs (Hannover, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart) in Estonia.

Tourism

Over the years, Germany has become one of Estonia’s main partners for tourism. Estonia is an appealing destination for Germans for both short and long trips. In the summer of 2019 German tourists ranked second of all tourists in Estonia and third overall for the whole year with slightly more than half a million visits that made up 8.3% of all tourists in Estonia. Compared to other Western European tourists, German visitors prefer to travel around the country and go on history, nature and culture tours. In addition to Tallinn, popular destinations among German tourists are Tartu county, West Viru county, Pärnu county and Saare county. Another popular way of travelling is on cruise ships that visit the capitals around the Baltic Sea, including Tallinn.

Co-operation in culture, education and research

EDUCATION

Cooperation with Germany usually takes places via direct contact between educational and scientific organisations and is based on bilateral agreements. Germany is one of the most popular destinations for exchange students and teachers participating in the mobility program.
Close and wide-reaching co-operation ties have developed between Estonian and German institutions of higher education over the years. Since 1992, the German Academic Mediation Service (DAAD)has, in the framework of the Central and Eastern European Special Programme, developed co-operation between Estonian and German universities . The German Government also supports the Euro Faculty of the University of Tartu, which was founded at the initiative of Council of the Blatic Sea States in order to develop the instruction of social sciences in the Baltic countries. The contact bureau of the Distance University of Hagen that was established at Tallinn University offers classes at the only German university at which academic studies are conducted in the form of long-distance learning.
The annual German-Estonian academic weeks in Tartu, called Academica, have become a tradition. Its patrons have been the presidents of Germany and Estonia and Academica is financially supported by German enterprises and the German Embassy. The goal of Academica is to offer Estonian and German scholars a forum to meet, find and develop contacts in their field, and also to resolve the more general challenges that research and universities face. Within the framework of the 16th Academica, held at Tartu University in November 2012, a symposium was held during which questions of ethics, science, and intellectual property in relation to the implementation of new technologies was discussed.

The education agreement signed by the two governments in 2002 helps to regulate and support the unique programme offered by Germany on the national level for those Estonian high schools where German is taught in-depth. The graduates of those schools receive both German and Estonian high school diplomas, which means that in the course of the same examination they pass the German graduation exam and the Estonian state exam. Thereafter they have rights and opportunities equal to those of graduates in Germany, as the language diploma received certifies their German language proficiency at a level sufficient for studying at German universities. The amount of German taught as a foreign language in general education schools has declined somewhat over the years, but it remains in third place after English and Russian. German is one of the subjects in which Estonian high school graduates can take a state exam.
It is possible to study Estonian language and culture at the universities of Munich, Hamburg and Göttingen. Since the fall of 2005, an Estonian language instructor sent by the Estonian state has worked in Göttingen.

CULTURE

The basis for Estonian-German cultural co-operation was established in 1993, when a cultural co-operation agreement was signed by the two governments. During recent years, co-operation has primarily taken place through free and unmediated cultural exchange and direct contacts. Since culture and education in Germany fall under the jurisdiction of the federal states, the greater part of co-operative efforts in those fields is enacted at the level of the federal states; cities and regions with friendship ties to Estonia.

The German Cultural Institutes active in Tallinn and Tartu are the primary promoters of German culture, and in 1998 the Goethe Institute was opened at the German Institute in Tallinn.

Since 2003 a cultural attaché has been working at the Estonian Embassy in Berlin to help create contacts and promote reciprocal cultural exchange.