Estonia’s application to join the eurozone was approved by EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday.

Estonia will become the 17th member of the eurozone sharing the same currency with more than 300 million EU citizens.

EU finance ministers said the Baltic nation of 1.3 million could join on January 1, 2011 and the official exchange rate was set at €1 to 15.6466 Estonian kroons.

Estonian Finance Minister Jurgen Ligi said the euro would be very important in getting the country’s economy back on track and boosting well-being. He greeted the EU decision by handing out chocolate Estonian euro coins to other finance ministers.

Estonia joined the EU with Malta in 2004.

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