TALLINN'S BFIF FY07 FINAL REPORT

UNCLAS TALLINN 000745 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EEB/CBA AND EUR/NB REF A) STATE 37473 B) STATE 87036 C) TALLINN 537 E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ETRD BEXP AMGT ABUD AFIN EINV EN SUBJECT: TALLINN'S BFIF FY07 FINAL REPORT ¶1. Summary: Embassy Tallinn received USD 2,500 from the Business Facilitation Incentive Fund in 2007 for FSC Helsinki Shadow Training and an U.S. Automobile Industry promotion project. Post used 959.67 for the U.S. car promotion project (reported in ref C) and 477.50 USD for Helsinki Shadow training. There are USD 1,062.83 unused FY07 funds. End Summary. ¶2. Reene Sepp, Embassy Tallinn's Econ/Commercial Assistant, visited the Foreign Commercial Service (FCS) office in Helsinki on October 11-12 for 'Shadow Training.' During her visit, FCS Helsinki provided Ms. Sepp with an update on changes in FCS services, the status of Tallinn's partner post relationship with Helsinki, and new U.S. Department of Commerce programs such as Invest in America. The shadowing training program gave Ms. Sepp a valuable opportunity to discuss these issues at length with her counterparts in Helsinki. This training will enhance Post's ability to assist U.S. companies to establish local partners, promote U.S. exports, and increase tourism between Estonia and the United States. It also increased our Econ/Commercial Assistant's proficiency with FCS applications (as FCS does not provide training in Tallinn on Department of Commerce systems updates.) Post leveraged the funds so that on October 12, our Commercial Assistant could also take part in an information sharing meeting between Pol/Econ Sections of Embassy Tallinn and Embassy Helsinki. ¶3. Costs related to the visit: Lodging, M&I USD 397.34 Ferry ticket USD 80.16 Total: USD 477.50 Local transportation costs were covered by Post funds. ¶4. Back-up documentation on expenditures will be faxed to Gale Gray, EEB/EX, as requested in Ref A. ¶5. Point of Contact at Post: Political/Economic Officer Robert Hollister, ph: 372-668-8107, hollisterrm@state.gov. Post appreciates EEB/CBA and EEB/EX's support for these projects. DECKER