On Thursday, November 2, AmCham members were invited by the U.S. Ambassador George P. Kent to his residence in Pirita for the 1st meeting of the quarterly series. This fall coffee meeting was devoted to the introduction of the newly arrived embassy officers who will be working with AmCham members in various spheres and on different topics throughout the next 3 years: Economic and Political officers, Consulate services, Public Diplomacy, Regional Security, and others.
AmCham members also had a chance to raise their topics and ask questions. The discussion turned out to be very active and lively as there were a lot of questions from the audience. We got to discuss the current situation with the war in Ukraine, also with Israel and Hamas. Members also raised such issues as FATCA and the difficulties some individual face in the banking sector in Estonia, challenges when it comes to enforcement of certain sanctions when it comes to companies bypassing through third countries (wood industry/plywood). Members have also raised their concerns when it comes to the recent closure of Estonian consulates in the USA, lack of American tourism to Estonia after the Pandemic and now due to the risks associated with the Russian war in Ukraine.
We would like to sincerely thank Ambassador Kent and his team for this very insightful and very useful meeting. We truly look forward to our quarterly engagements with the embassy team in the upcoming years!