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Business Traveller
Estonia Joins European Union
Aired May 09, 2004 - 19:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD QUEST, HOST: A window into the Baltics. Will the country become a regional business center or a bit player to its larger neighbors?
So on this month's CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER, Estonia, a country focus.
The town hall dominates the central square here in Tallinn.
Hello and welcome to CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER. I'm Richard Quest, this month reporting from Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. And incidentally, that town hall this year celebrates its 600th anniversary.
But I haven't come here to reminisce about the past. Rather, to celebrate the future, because Estonia is one of the three former Soviet Union Baltic states that's just joined the European Union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST (voice-over): So on this program, should you be thinking of coming to Estonia to look at the business opportunities that might exist?
Also, in e-Estonia. Why everyone from carpenters to cabinet ministers are on the Net. Estonia's extensive Internet culture. And one of the country's most successful exports, the supermodel. What's the secret behind the success? We go ON THE ROAD.
And dining and entertaining in Tallinn. The former Eurovision winner Tamal Pader shows us around some of the city's hottest nightspots.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
So why have we come to Estonia? What is it about this place that makes it so relevant? You want the answer? Let's go to the top.
Tallinn is in the center of this region. With Helsinki just 80 kilometers over there, St. Petersburg in that direction about 500 kilometers and Stockholm and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and a whole host of other commercial centers right in its (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Tallinn makes the most sense for setting up business.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST (voice-over): This central location gives Estonia its importance. Just a decade after gaining independence from the Soviet Union, it's now a trading gateway linking Russia and Northern Europe.
SALVATORE CANDIDA, BALTIC STUDIES EXPERT: Due to the past culture and the link which it has with Russia, it can play an extremely important role, also for other Western companies we are aiming to be based within the European Union but aiming to penetrate the Russian market.
QUEST: Because Estonia is part of the European Union, fellow European Union citizens just need ID papers or passports to visit. Those coming from the United States, Australia, Japan and a host of other nations don't need visas either. But those travelers from Africa and the subcontinent usually require visas. Oh, and English is pretty widely spoken in Tallinn.
Getting to and from here has become much easier and promises to open up even more. There's no shortage of ways to travel.
For instance, to cross the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki, the helicopter does the trip 28 times a day and it takes 18 minutes in each direction.
Ferries also link Tallinn with the Finnish capital as well as Stockholm in Sweden. To go east, there are train connections to Moscow and St. Petersburg, and of course you can get there by plane, which is pretty convenient since the airport is just 4 kilometers from Tallinn's city center, connecting Tallinn with just about every major European capital. From the middle of the month, flights also go to Milan and Munich.
One way and another, this is all designed to open up the country and ensure that smooth ride ahead for those doing business here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Just look at these defenses, built centuries ago to help protect Tallinn against invasion, because that has been the history of this country. Invasion followed by occupation. And with that has come a certain ability to adapt to new ways of life.
Now of course the people here have to adapt all over again, this time to the single market and membership of the European Union. But this time they believe they have the right economic weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A low-cost base for business, that's the mantra used by the government to attract investment to Estonia.
Its location sets it apart from its neighbors, but what else does Estonia offer the foreign investor?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reason we decided on Estonia are the tax system in Estonia is very good. There is no corporation tax for reinvested profits.
There is a very competitive workforce, readily available, well- educated. 98 percent of our employees are Estonian. We have approximately 170 people (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
It's very competitive, the costs in Estonia. I would say, you know, by about 30, 40 percent better than anywhere else.
OAKLEY: Galvex-Estonia (ph), a U.S.-based company, is the country's largest single foreign investor. It opened this steel plant back in 2002 at a cost of over $200 million, an investment Galvex (ph) says is worth it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We produce an average of between 35,000 and 40,000 tons per month. Turnover is about $300 million per year and we intend to invest upon that, to get it to $50 million over the next two years.
OAKLEY: A big commitment in a very small country. And with a population of only 1.5 million, it's a very small, internal market. But that isn't a concern for Galvex (ph). It exports 98 percent of its goods. It's exactly this type of company that could thrive in Estonia, and it's one of the industries the government is targeting.
ANDRUS VIRG, ENTERPRISE-ESTONIA: On our investment promotion we have three broad sectors.
One is manufacturing. Estonia can be a manufacturing base, especially for timber-related industries. This is our biggest natural resource.
The second broad area is services. This includes logistics and transit as well as shared service centers. For Estonia being a small country, we also tend to speak many foreign languages.
The third broad sector that we are focusing is innovative and technology related new products, especially in the biotech or biomedicine area as we have a quite good tradition already of biotech research or molecular research. Also information and communication technology and all kinds of applications related to mobile network.
Now with E.U. expansion and the possibility of also tapping into the E.U. sector funds, we have much more funding possibilities available, and in this sense all the companies who have already been established I Estonia are equal and also the foreign companies can now tap into the source of this assistance.
OAKLEY (on camera): Estonia was the first of the Baltics to embrace the market economy. Estonian economists believe that that early start and the country's trading links with Helsinki, just a short ferry ride away, will assure that inside the European Union it becomes a gainer, not a loser.
(voice-over): For CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER, I'm Robin Oakley, in Tallinn, Estonia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: And coming up next on CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER, out with the old, in with the new.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTINA OJULAND, ESTONIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The experience of e- democracy in a much broader sense is sort of luggage that we have if we enter the European Union.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: e-Estonia, where the "e" stands for everything electronic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Welcome back to CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER in Estonia.
If you've come here without your laptop or it isn't working, have no fear because the government here has made the Internet one of its top priorities with its e-Estonia policy. What that means practically is that the Internet is literally everywhere.
Take, for example, this shopping mall in Tallinn. Here the Internet, well, it's even under the stairs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST (voice-over): You'd be forgive for thinking this is a board meeting at a high tech company, computers on every desk, executives hunched over terminals. But it's actually a government in action. Cabinet meetings, Estonia style.
Decision are being made, and it's all done on a screen. It's a system the government adopted four years ago, one of which it's pretty proud.
OJULAND: Estonia was the first country which introduced the e- government. I think that the experience of e-democracy in a much broader sense is sort of luggage that we have if we enter the European Union, and we are very happy to share our experience.
QUEST: In Estonia, access to the Internet is considered a right, just like any other citizen's liberties.
MEELIS ATONEN, ESTONIAN MINISTER OF ECONOMICS: For the government, our actual goal is that every household in Estonia have its own Internet access at home. And maybe it will take a few years for us, but that is how we're going.
QUEST: On the Internet you won't get lost, because here public road signs actually point you in the right direction. And with nearly half the population using the Net, it's the highest number in the Baltics. The Net is used for parking, filing taxes, banking.
OLARI ILSON, HANSABANK: In Estonia, we are the biggest bank. We are close to 1 million customers. Half of them are Internet users and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 96 percent of all our transactions are done through electronic channels.
QUEST: It's hard to comprehend that this country, which now does more than 90 percent of its banking online, was a decade ago a part of the Soviet Union, and the range of opportunities for banking continues to grow for private individuals and companies.
ILSON: For corporate customers, the main services that we offer are domestic payments as well as foreign payments, but all kinds of services (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as well as trading stocks, funds. I mean, the whole overview of your finances.
QUEST: None of this came cheap. Huge money has been spent putting Estonia into this position. It's a policy that is likely to be followed by the other Baltic countries because all in all they are geographically remote, but through the Net can take part.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
e-Estonia and if you've got any thoughts about doing business in the new enlarged European Union, the difficulties that will be involved, send me an e-mail. It's the usual address, quest@cnn.com. And of course don't forget our Web site, constantly updated with the latest travel news and information for the BUSINESS TRAVELLER. It's at cnn.com/businesstraveller.
They have a tradition in this part of the world that if you're visiting someone, you probably should take flowers. Come to this part of Tallinn, and there's no shortage of beautiful roses, daffs, you name it, to hand out. In fact, beauty is one of the things that Estonia is now exporting to the rest of the world. In the shape and form of supermodels. We went ON THE ROAD.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAOLO MOGLIA, MODELING INDUSTRY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in early days (UNINTELLIGIBLE) '93. I decided to stay. At that time, I decided to stay here, to look for some business, to do something. There were two businesses that I know. There was the restaurant business (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and then I decided to open a modeling agency.
Because they need to know how to walk, because we cannot make mistakes on the catwalk.
I think that I am in the only one in the world that has found two top models. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was the first model that I discovered in Estonia, and I found again another (UNINTELLIGIBLE). She is again (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the world. And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and of course (UNINTELLIGIBLE) plenty of girls around the world right now.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) from New York and Paris as well and they're looking for new faces for next season.
Last year (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was a good moment to place the girls, a good moment for the girls. Right now (UNINTELLIGIBLE) so I feel (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
They train the girls. They learn how they must be on the catwalk, how they must move, how they must (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the camera, all these things, yes. We have 20 girls abroad and then something like 20 new faces that they are just now learning at the school what they must do and maybe I feel that four or five of them are really going to go somewhere.
But they want faces that are interesting, something special. Not the beauty that you can see on the street (UNINTELLIGIBLE) beautiful girl. Something that comes out for the camera. It is another beauty. Very interesting on the face, a bit strange face (UNINTELLIGIBLE) because on the camera they change. That's why they come out amazing pictures of those girls.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Plenty of beauty on display here in Estonia.
Coming up after the break, the working day is over and you've two hours to kill in Tallinn. What do you do? Thank you very much. I'll tell you after the break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAMAL PADER, MUSICIAN: I'm now going to show you some hot spots in Tallinn, where to hang out, the restaurants and night clubs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral here in Tallinn. You can stroll in the park and even feed the birds around Swan Lake. And charming cobbled streets with souvenir shops and cafes. There's plenty to see, but what else is there to do in Tallinn if you've two hours to kill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PADER: Hi. My name is Tamal Pader and I'm a musician or singer, something, and I'm going to the studio. Come along.
The year, 2001, I am on the road (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Copenhagen with Dave Benson (ph). That was a great time.
Now I'm going to take you for a tour in the capital city of Estonia, Tallinn.
Right now we're at a place called Rocca Al Mare Bowling. It's a nice place for to bowl. I think it's the most popular bowling place in Tallinn. So me and my friends, we come here as often as we can.
All right. The sun is down, the bats are awake and I'm going to show you some hot spots in Tallinn, where to hang out, the restaurants and night clubs.
This is my favorite place. When me and my wife want to go out for a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) then we come here. The food (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is the best in town, Italian food. It's very nice. And they have so big wine list, the best wines you can get in Estonia. It's perfect. It's the perfect place for couples. It's very romantic. Nice music.
Now we're going to the Club Bon Bon. Here we are in Bon Bon. Let's go upstairs.
Now we're in the middle of the Bon Bon. The Bon Bon VIP room. I love this place because it's like Mecca. It's like Indian style. Great DJs are playing all night long. It's a pretty cool place.
Those are a few great places in Tallinn to hang out. Hopefully (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this. See you soon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The weather may be brisk, the nightlife is certainly hot.
And that is CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER for this month, a country focus on Estonia. I'm Richard Quest, reporting from Tallinn.
Wherever your travels may take you, I hope it's profitable. I'll see you next month.
END
TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 9, 2004 - 19:30:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD QUEST, HOST: A window into the Baltics. Will the country become a regional business center or a bit player to its larger neighbors?
So on this month's CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER, Estonia, a country focus.
The town hall dominates the central square here in Tallinn.
Hello and welcome to CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER. I'm Richard Quest, this month reporting from Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. And incidentally, that town hall this year celebrates its 600th anniversary.
But I haven't come here to reminisce about the past. Rather, to celebrate the future, because Estonia is one of the three former Soviet Union Baltic states that's just joined the European Union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST (voice-over): So on this program, should you be thinking of coming to Estonia to look at the business opportunities that might exist?
Also, in e-Estonia. Why everyone from carpenters to cabinet ministers are on the Net. Estonia's extensive Internet culture. And one of the country's most successful exports, the supermodel. What's the secret behind the success? We go ON THE ROAD.
And dining and entertaining in Tallinn. The former Eurovision winner Tamal Pader shows us around some of the city's hottest nightspots.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
So why have we come to Estonia? What is it about this place that makes it so relevant? You want the answer? Let's go to the top.
Tallinn is in the center of this region. With Helsinki just 80 kilometers over there, St. Petersburg in that direction about 500 kilometers and Stockholm and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and a whole host of other commercial centers right in its (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Tallinn makes the most sense for setting up business.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST (voice-over): This central location gives Estonia its importance. Just a decade after gaining independence from the Soviet Union, it's now a trading gateway linking Russia and Northern Europe.
SALVATORE CANDIDA, BALTIC STUDIES EXPERT: Due to the past culture and the link which it has with Russia, it can play an extremely important role, also for other Western companies we are aiming to be based within the European Union but aiming to penetrate the Russian market.
QUEST: Because Estonia is part of the European Union, fellow European Union citizens just need ID papers or passports to visit. Those coming from the United States, Australia, Japan and a host of other nations don't need visas either. But those travelers from Africa and the subcontinent usually require visas. Oh, and English is pretty widely spoken in Tallinn.
Getting to and from here has become much easier and promises to open up even more. There's no shortage of ways to travel.
For instance, to cross the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki, the helicopter does the trip 28 times a day and it takes 18 minutes in each direction.
Ferries also link Tallinn with the Finnish capital as well as Stockholm in Sweden. To go east, there are train connections to Moscow and St. Petersburg, and of course you can get there by plane, which is pretty convenient since the airport is just 4 kilometers from Tallinn's city center, connecting Tallinn with just about every major European capital. From the middle of the month, flights also go to Milan and Munich.
One way and another, this is all designed to open up the country and ensure that smooth ride ahead for those doing business here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Just look at these defenses, built centuries ago to help protect Tallinn against invasion, because that has been the history of this country. Invasion followed by occupation. And with that has come a certain ability to adapt to new ways of life.
Now of course the people here have to adapt all over again, this time to the single market and membership of the European Union. But this time they believe they have the right economic weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A low-cost base for business, that's the mantra used by the government to attract investment to Estonia.
Its location sets it apart from its neighbors, but what else does Estonia offer the foreign investor?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reason we decided on Estonia are the tax system in Estonia is very good. There is no corporation tax for reinvested profits.
There is a very competitive workforce, readily available, well- educated. 98 percent of our employees are Estonian. We have approximately 170 people (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
It's very competitive, the costs in Estonia. I would say, you know, by about 30, 40 percent better than anywhere else.
OAKLEY: Galvex-Estonia (ph), a U.S.-based company, is the country's largest single foreign investor. It opened this steel plant back in 2002 at a cost of over $200 million, an investment Galvex (ph) says is worth it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We produce an average of between 35,000 and 40,000 tons per month. Turnover is about $300 million per year and we intend to invest upon that, to get it to $50 million over the next two years.
OAKLEY: A big commitment in a very small country. And with a population of only 1.5 million, it's a very small, internal market. But that isn't a concern for Galvex (ph). It exports 98 percent of its goods. It's exactly this type of company that could thrive in Estonia, and it's one of the industries the government is targeting.
ANDRUS VIRG, ENTERPRISE-ESTONIA: On our investment promotion we have three broad sectors.
One is manufacturing. Estonia can be a manufacturing base, especially for timber-related industries. This is our biggest natural resource.
The second broad area is services. This includes logistics and transit as well as shared service centers. For Estonia being a small country, we also tend to speak many foreign languages.
The third broad sector that we are focusing is innovative and technology related new products, especially in the biotech or biomedicine area as we have a quite good tradition already of biotech research or molecular research. Also information and communication technology and all kinds of applications related to mobile network.
Now with E.U. expansion and the possibility of also tapping into the E.U. sector funds, we have much more funding possibilities available, and in this sense all the companies who have already been established I Estonia are equal and also the foreign companies can now tap into the source of this assistance.
OAKLEY (on camera): Estonia was the first of the Baltics to embrace the market economy. Estonian economists believe that that early start and the country's trading links with Helsinki, just a short ferry ride away, will assure that inside the European Union it becomes a gainer, not a loser.
(voice-over): For CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER, I'm Robin Oakley, in Tallinn, Estonia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: And coming up next on CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER, out with the old, in with the new.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTINA OJULAND, ESTONIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The experience of e- democracy in a much broader sense is sort of luggage that we have if we enter the European Union.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: e-Estonia, where the "e" stands for everything electronic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Welcome back to CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER in Estonia.
If you've come here without your laptop or it isn't working, have no fear because the government here has made the Internet one of its top priorities with its e-Estonia policy. What that means practically is that the Internet is literally everywhere.
Take, for example, this shopping mall in Tallinn. Here the Internet, well, it's even under the stairs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST (voice-over): You'd be forgive for thinking this is a board meeting at a high tech company, computers on every desk, executives hunched over terminals. But it's actually a government in action. Cabinet meetings, Estonia style.
Decision are being made, and it's all done on a screen. It's a system the government adopted four years ago, one of which it's pretty proud.
OJULAND: Estonia was the first country which introduced the e- government. I think that the experience of e-democracy in a much broader sense is sort of luggage that we have if we enter the European Union, and we are very happy to share our experience.
QUEST: In Estonia, access to the Internet is considered a right, just like any other citizen's liberties.
MEELIS ATONEN, ESTONIAN MINISTER OF ECONOMICS: For the government, our actual goal is that every household in Estonia have its own Internet access at home. And maybe it will take a few years for us, but that is how we're going.
QUEST: On the Internet you won't get lost, because here public road signs actually point you in the right direction. And with nearly half the population using the Net, it's the highest number in the Baltics. The Net is used for parking, filing taxes, banking.
OLARI ILSON, HANSABANK: In Estonia, we are the biggest bank. We are close to 1 million customers. Half of them are Internet users and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 96 percent of all our transactions are done through electronic channels.
QUEST: It's hard to comprehend that this country, which now does more than 90 percent of its banking online, was a decade ago a part of the Soviet Union, and the range of opportunities for banking continues to grow for private individuals and companies.
ILSON: For corporate customers, the main services that we offer are domestic payments as well as foreign payments, but all kinds of services (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as well as trading stocks, funds. I mean, the whole overview of your finances.
QUEST: None of this came cheap. Huge money has been spent putting Estonia into this position. It's a policy that is likely to be followed by the other Baltic countries because all in all they are geographically remote, but through the Net can take part.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
e-Estonia and if you've got any thoughts about doing business in the new enlarged European Union, the difficulties that will be involved, send me an e-mail. It's the usual address, quest@cnn.com. And of course don't forget our Web site, constantly updated with the latest travel news and information for the BUSINESS TRAVELLER. It's at cnn.com/businesstraveller.
They have a tradition in this part of the world that if you're visiting someone, you probably should take flowers. Come to this part of Tallinn, and there's no shortage of beautiful roses, daffs, you name it, to hand out. In fact, beauty is one of the things that Estonia is now exporting to the rest of the world. In the shape and form of supermodels. We went ON THE ROAD.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAOLO MOGLIA, MODELING INDUSTRY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in early days (UNINTELLIGIBLE) '93. I decided to stay. At that time, I decided to stay here, to look for some business, to do something. There were two businesses that I know. There was the restaurant business (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and then I decided to open a modeling agency.
Because they need to know how to walk, because we cannot make mistakes on the catwalk.
I think that I am in the only one in the world that has found two top models. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was the first model that I discovered in Estonia, and I found again another (UNINTELLIGIBLE). She is again (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the world. And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and of course (UNINTELLIGIBLE) plenty of girls around the world right now.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) from New York and Paris as well and they're looking for new faces for next season.
Last year (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was a good moment to place the girls, a good moment for the girls. Right now (UNINTELLIGIBLE) so I feel (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
They train the girls. They learn how they must be on the catwalk, how they must move, how they must (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the camera, all these things, yes. We have 20 girls abroad and then something like 20 new faces that they are just now learning at the school what they must do and maybe I feel that four or five of them are really going to go somewhere.
But they want faces that are interesting, something special. Not the beauty that you can see on the street (UNINTELLIGIBLE) beautiful girl. Something that comes out for the camera. It is another beauty. Very interesting on the face, a bit strange face (UNINTELLIGIBLE) because on the camera they change. That's why they come out amazing pictures of those girls.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Plenty of beauty on display here in Estonia.
Coming up after the break, the working day is over and you've two hours to kill in Tallinn. What do you do? Thank you very much. I'll tell you after the break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAMAL PADER, MUSICIAN: I'm now going to show you some hot spots in Tallinn, where to hang out, the restaurants and night clubs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral here in Tallinn. You can stroll in the park and even feed the birds around Swan Lake. And charming cobbled streets with souvenir shops and cafes. There's plenty to see, but what else is there to do in Tallinn if you've two hours to kill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PADER: Hi. My name is Tamal Pader and I'm a musician or singer, something, and I'm going to the studio. Come along.
The year, 2001, I am on the road (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Copenhagen with Dave Benson (ph). That was a great time.
Now I'm going to take you for a tour in the capital city of Estonia, Tallinn.
Right now we're at a place called Rocca Al Mare Bowling. It's a nice place for to bowl. I think it's the most popular bowling place in Tallinn. So me and my friends, we come here as often as we can.
All right. The sun is down, the bats are awake and I'm going to show you some hot spots in Tallinn, where to hang out, the restaurants and night clubs.
This is my favorite place. When me and my wife want to go out for a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) then we come here. The food (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is the best in town, Italian food. It's very nice. And they have so big wine list, the best wines you can get in Estonia. It's perfect. It's the perfect place for couples. It's very romantic. Nice music.
Now we're going to the Club Bon Bon. Here we are in Bon Bon. Let's go upstairs.
Now we're in the middle of the Bon Bon. The Bon Bon VIP room. I love this place because it's like Mecca. It's like Indian style. Great DJs are playing all night long. It's a pretty cool place.
Those are a few great places in Tallinn to hang out. Hopefully (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this. See you soon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The weather may be brisk, the nightlife is certainly hot.
And that is CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER for this month, a country focus on Estonia. I'm Richard Quest, reporting from Tallinn.
Wherever your travels may take you, I hope it's profitable. I'll see you next month.
END
TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
