Today is a day that recognises and honours a part of our lives of which there is quite possibly none greater nor more personal: that with which we all, innately, have an unbreakable bond.

Mother's Day.

Without further ado, let me wish all mothers eternal thanks, endless embraces and all the flowers you could wish for! My mother. All of the mothers here today. All mothers, everywhere.

Let me wish them, too, good health and unwavering resolve. Such wishes never go amiss.

We talk a lot of the hugely important role that mothers play in our lives, and of the responsibility they shoulder.

Mothers make important decisions about their children's education.

Mothers set the rules at home, and instil values in their children.

Mothers make sure that everyone in the family is healthy, and encourage their children to exercise and play sport.

And it is usually mothers who children come to seeking solace, to take their pain away, and to make them feel safe and secure.

The question I would like to put to you today is this: given that we ask so much of our mothers, do we really give them the authority and the opportunities they need to be able to cope with those demands?

The simple but precise answer to that question is to be found in another: are mothers, and women generally, being granted sufficient decision-making rights in the way we organise our lives today?

As mothers and as women, are they sufficiently able to influence decisions that not only affect society, but women and mothers themselves and their quality of life?

I'm rather afraid that they're not. And I don't understand why.

I thank you all for choosing the profession of a soldier and for being willing to be deployed in a complicated operation, and in doing so standing for the security interests of the Republic of Estonia and our allies. I also thank your next of kin and friends who are supporting you in this choice.

I wish each and every one of you, both here in this hall and all the people of Estonia, a beautiful Mother Language Day. In saying this, I am confirming that using any language correctly and well, either verbally or in writing, protects and develops this language, and this requires good mastering of the language, learning and professional teaching of the language concerned.

I am happy that gatherings and exchanges of ideas, like this one, contribute to Estonia's progress – helping us to highlight issues that concern us and allowing us to get to know each other. Let us recall that the co-operation between the public and private sector, watching each other's back and personal contacts and communication allowed us to spring to the defence of the Republic of Estonia, fast, five years ago. The alliances that were born in this war – the cyber war, if you permit – made Estonia even more visible on the world map.

Moderation and prudence have become the chorus of our everyday song. As we look at the economic indicators of Estonian companies and the economic environment in general, it seems, however, that we have climbed back to the pre-crisis level – turnover, profit and equity values have grown. However, it is not uncommon for the terms 'restoring' and 'ongoing crisis' to be mentioned in the same sentence.

Estonia is all of us. Today and tonight is, as always on February 24, the time to be proud of and discuss our country in each home in Estonia and in this hall. It is the time to ask how our state is doing, and our society and each and every person.

The Republic of Estonia cherishes traditions that represent our values and aspirations. In this spirit, we express gratitude and acknowledgement to our compatriots and friends and supporters abroad. We honour those who have served as inspiration for many others, who have helped make Estonia better, smarter, safer and more secure.

Tonight, at this hour – when one year becomes the next; when one thing fades as another takes form – it is fitting to recognise that now, in our 20^th year of new freedom, we have truly come of age. First and foremost, this is related to what is around us.

Here and today, we can only state, once again, the appropriateness of the old adage – even one man can be a soldier in a battlefield. This has been proven by General Ants Laaneots, one of the men who took part in restoring the Estonian Defence Forces and an officer who has held with dignity the office of Commander of the Defence Forces for the last five years.

This Summer we commemorated twenty years since the de facto re-establishment of independence of our three countries. Twenty years: an entire generation has grown up and reached majority age without knowing or experiencing a single day of Soviet rule. An entire generation for whom the only reality has been life in independent Lithuania, independent Latvia and independent Estonia. For them, there are no excuses for our present day to be found in a past they never experienced.