By its decision issued on Wednesday President Toomas Hendrik Ilves gave the Class One Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana to the previous secretary of state of the United States, Hillary Clinton and Hans-Gert Pottering, former president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering.
Ilves recognizes Hillary Clinton with the high decoration for her contribution for the development of cross-Atlantic cooperation and for supporting the policy corresponding to the modern security scene in NATO.
Pottering deserves his decoration for long-term support to Estonian foreign policy aspirations.
Of US statesmen recipients of the Class One Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana are US presidents George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford, the politician and the present vice-president Joe Biden, the diplomat and former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, the diplomats George F. Kennan and Strobe Talbott, the policial scientist Paul Goble and the politician John McCain.
Of politicians of the European Union recipients of the Class One Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana are Otto von Habsburg, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso and Gunter Verheugen.