Estonia is a democratic parliamentary republic and is divided into fifteen counties. Estonia is one of the least-populous members of the European Union. Estonia lies in the northern part of the temperate climate zone Estonia has four seasons of near-equal length. The official language is Estonian.Võro and Seto in southern counties are spoken along with Estonian. The Estonian national flag is a tri-color- blue, black and white. The national currency is the Eestonian kroon. Estonia has over 1,400 lakes. Most are very small, with the largest, Lake Peipsi being 3,555 km² .There are many rivers in the country. The longest of them are Võhandu (162 km), Pärnu (144 km), and Põltsamaa (135 km).Estonia has numerous fens and bogs.. The biggest islands are Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. Before the Second World War Estonia was mainly an agriculture country (butter,milk and cheese) Estonia is nearly energy independent supplying over 90% of its electricity needs
VALIO`S CHRONOLOGY 1905 In Finland, Valio Oy was founded 1968 Dairy Product Factory was founded in Võru 1992 In Laeva Tapila Dairies Ltd was founded, which is the forerunner of Valio Eesti 1993 Valio entered the Lithuanian market 1996 Estonia's bestloved brand in the dairy industry Alma was born 1999 First LGG ® lactic acid enriched dairy product Kefir Valio Gefilus reached Eestonian consumers 2002 Valio entered the Latvian market 2002 The first batch of cheese from Valio Forte was sent to Italy 2006 Valio Eesti AS and AS Võru Cheese was created on the basis of a joint company Valio Baltic AS 2007 Valio lactose free milk resulted in market 2008 Valio Fortes cheese menu was offered at Beijing Olympics