Thirty Estonian foreign and security policy experts, politicians, entrepreneurs and officials announced the creation of the Estonian Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday. The NGO is the initiative of former President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Chairman of the Riigikogu Foreign Affairs Committee Marko Mihkelson. "The idea matured over time," Ilves admitted. The former president said that the impulse to create the council came after a conversation he had with Mihkelson last fall after both had read an article on the American Council on Foreign Relations that was created 100 years ago. "It was created as a reaction to the country's sharp turn toward isolationism and protectionism at the time," Ilves explained.