Ávarp á rafrænum viðskiptafundi á milli Íslands og Eistlands á sviði stafrænnar stjórnsýslu
Representatives from Estonia and Iceland, both from the two governments, and from Estonian and Icelandic companies, other distinguished guests participating online.
Good morning everyone!
Let me first express my sincere thanks to our friends in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Tallinn for the initiative and for co-hosting today’s online event. This virtual visit is a good example of the creativity that has emerged in so many areas, both in the private and public sectors, due to COVID-19.
It shows, that despite the strains that the pandemic has put on our societies and economies, we are able to cooperate and create much needed solutions.
I am certain that this will eventually both help us to get through the pandemic and no less importantly make us stronger in a post-COVID world.
It can even be argued that the current crisis is accelerating different developments that were long overdue. The fact of the matter is, that we quickly adjusted to a different reality. Time-consuming travels have been replaced with teams-meetings. It is not the same, don’t get me wrong, and I think most of us agree that in-person meetings remain crucial.
But we have learned that we can use technology to facilitate virtual contact. This allows us to maintain long-standing relations and build-up new ones.
Today, we are in fact doing both. Today’s event is also an excellent continuation of the strong Icelandic-Estonian relations, especially as regards cooperation in e-governance.
Estonia’s success in e-governance has been an inspiration to Iceland. In fact, so much that Iceland signed an agreement with the NIIS (Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions) during the visit of the Icelandic Prime Minister and Minister of Finance to Tallinn last year on co-operation with Estonia and Finland to start using the so-called X-Road.
This resulted in what we call in Icelandic Straumurinn, a platform helping us to promote and strengthen e-governance services. I am confident that this cooperation will grow stronger in the years to come.
Gov-tech or e-government solutions certainly create enormous opportunities for governments, both at the state and municipal level, to provide the best services to every citizen, regardless of location. It also is holds the key for better understanding how the services provided are distributed and how available resources are used. The digital revolution we are experiencing can thus give us the oversight needed to optimize services and ensure the best use of government funds.
Dear friends,
Last February, I was fortunate to visit the beautiful city of Tallinn. Iceland’s chairmanship of the NB8 cooperation had just come to an end, and Estonia’s chairmanship had recently started. So, this visit was in some ways a “handover” of the NB8 chair, but also an opportunity to strengthen our bilateral political ties, as well as to develop, deepen and widen the scope of our collaboration.
The relations between Iceland and Estonia stand on firm grounds (in fact dating back more than a thousand years to the times when Nordic Vikings were “doing business” in the Baltic states…). In recent history, our alliance was in many ways formed and forged in the uncertain times right after the end of the Cold War.
We are honoured to have played a supporting role in your brave struggle for independence. And next year, we look forward to commemorating the 30th anniversary of these dramatic events that led to Estonia and the other Baltic States regaining their independence.
In these 30 years, both of our countries have come a long way. Both Iceland and Estonia are committed members of NATO, the UN and OECD, and as such we are strong defenders of fundamental values and principles, of human rights, democracy and of the rule of law.
We are allies in Europe. You as members of the EU and Iceland a party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. And we cooperate closely in our Nordic-Baltic region, as well as bilaterally. I was also honoured a few days ago, as chair of the Arctic Council, to receive Estonia’s application for an observer status in that important international forum.
I mention this here, because close political relations, based on common values and shared interests, can and do create new opportunities in trade and economic cooperation.
We have a solid framework for trade in the EEA Agreement, and the political will for doing more together is certainly there.
Most importantly, we have you: Representatives of dynamic and ambitious companies in both countries, not least in the field of innovation and IT services.
It is my hope this event will create common ground for further collaboration, and I look forward to learning more about today’s tangible results.
Let’s enjoy our virtual visit to Iceland and Estonia – and meet again in person next year!
Thank you again, everyone, and good luck today.