Saaremaa, Estonia

GENERAL INFORMATION

Region name is Saaremaa or Saare County

Saare County comprises Saaremaa, the biggest island of Estonia and another 7 inhabited islands, as well more than 500 smaller islands and islets.

Saaremaa is known as a good recreation place with unique nature and a lot of sights. Saaremaa has retained its uniqueness due to its location and insulation. In the villages there are still stone fences and houses with thatched roofs, beautiful national costumes and dialectal language are still used. Junipers, dolomite, windmills and the famous local home-brewed beer are considered the symbols of Saaremaa. (source: http://www.saaremaa.ee/)

Flag

Saaremaa county has an individual flag - it consists of two equally divided colours - green and white; Saare county`s  arm in the center.  Saaremaa´s arm symbolizes a viking-boat with hoisted sails and has seven rounded shields in a row. Below, there are three silvery waves (source: http://www.saare.ee/).

The lifeline connecting Saaremaa with mainland is Kuivastu-Virtsu ferry service, approximately 1.4 million passengers are ferried every year. Research work concerning the possibility of constructing a fixed link between the island of Muhu and the mainland is going on.
Kuressaare airport is open for domestic and international flights. Flights to Tallinn depart four days a week and to Stockholm two days a week.

Population of Saaremaa in 01.01.2009 was 36 093 (http://www.saare.ee/)

Territory:  2,922 km² (6,5% of Estonian territory)

Major islands: Saaremaa (2671 km²), Muhu (198 km²), Ruhnu (11,4 km²), Abruka (8,8 km²), Vilsandi (8,8 km²)

Population density: 13,5 inhabitants per km²

Administrative distribution: 15 rural municipalities and 1 town

Main town: Kuressaare (16 122 inhabitants)

Ethnic composition: 98% Estonian, 1,2% Russian, 0,24% Finn, 0,22% Ukrainian, 0,34% other

Main religions: predominantly Protestant (Lutheran), also Eastern Orthodox and Baptist

Climate: mild maritime; Average temperatures:  summer +19°C; winter -1°C
(source: http://www.saaremaa.ee/)

Administration
The county has 16 local governments who have their own commune administrations and municipal councils. Biggest local authority in Saaremaa county is in capital town Kuressaare and smallest one is parish Ruhnu (approximately 120 inhabitants). (Saaremaa’s local authority list).
Cooperation in promoting the development of the county goes through the
Saaremaa Local Government Association.
SOL contact information:
Lossi 1, Phone  +372 452 0561
93816 KURESSAARE, ESTONIA
e-mail: sol@tt.ee

Saaremaa County Government represents our country in the region and deals with local government supervision and arranges cooperative services between countys. Saare County Government consists of county governor, county secretary, counsellors, Department of Development and Planning, Department of Education and Culture, Department of Social and Healthcare.  Saare county governor is from July 24, 2006, Toomas Kasemaa.
Saare County Government
Lossi 1, +372 452 0501
93819 Kuressaare, ESTONIA
e-mail: maavalitsus@saare.ee

Employment
The number of the employed people makes approximately up 1/3 of the total population of the county. In rough estimation 10% of them are commuting between work outside Saaremaa and home.
The majority of the people are employed in industries: food processing, timber, electronics etc. The official unemployment rate is 9% (July 2009).  Almost a quarter of employed people are occupied in the public sector.

Companies
There are more than 1300 different companies in Saaremaa, in addition there are 1000 self-employed persons. Most companies are micro- or small enterprises, only 100 enterprises in Saaremaa employ more than 20 people.
¾ of currently active businesses are located in Kuressaare and surrounding parish Kaarma. To represent common interests of Saare county businesses, Saaremaa Entrepreneur Association has been founded (http://www.seliit.ee/).

Main business sectors in Saaremaa County are tourism, small craft building, electronics, agriculture, fishery, food industry and construction.
1/3 of the industrial production is exported outside Estonia: there are electronics, small craft building and some other companies that export almost all of their products to the Nordic and Western European countries.

Key Characteristics of Saaremaa
(source: http://www.saaremaa.ee/)

A favourable economic-geographical location
Saaremaa is located in the centre of the Baltic Sea region with the most rapidly growing market in Europe, containing 70 million consumers.
Gates to the Europe include beside the Kuressaare Airport also ports Roomassaare and Mõntu, and deep water harbour on the north-western coast of Saaremaa.
More than half of the households in Saaremaa, have domestic internet connection.

Saaremaa is a tourist destination, revisited by 35% of foreign and 95% of domestic tourists.
Exotic - specific, ecologically clean, due to the mild maritime climate. Nature here presents a great diversity, made impressive by juniper fields, coastal alvars, sandy beaches and bluffs.

Saaremaa has an entrepreneurship friendly, safe and strain free economic environment.
Safety - The level of crime is 3 - 4 times lower here than in Tallinn or in Estonia on the whole.
Social environment - Due to the watershed and homogeneous local population composition there are no major strains on either social or national basis on Saaremaa.

The potentially available labour power and production space is plentiful.

Overview of Education in Saaremaa

There are 15 basic schools, 5 gymnasiums, 1 vocational training centre and 1 university college in Saaremaa.

Kuressaare Regional Training Centre (http://www.ametikool.ee/) provides vocational education on many fields: tourism and catering, small business management, art and design, information and communication technology, social and child care, construction, carpentry, small craft building and car mechanics. There are about 1000 students.

Kuressaare College of Tallinn University of Technology (http://www.ttykk.edu.ee/TTYKK_en.php) provides applied higher education on tourism and catering management, electronics and small business management. There are about 180 students. From year 2009 small craft building engineer speciality was added.

Both institutions are active in international co-operation using possibilities provided by EU educational programs.

In addition to Kuressaare Regional Training Centre and Kuressaare College there are smaller training institutions offering life-long learning possibilities for adults.