It is my great pleasure to welcome you to today’s Estonia-Botswana Business Seminar here in Tallinn. It is a timely follow-up to my visit to Botswana last year. Events like this play an important role in strengthening the ties between our countries and opening new avenues for business and digital cooperation.
Estonia and Botswana are sparsely populated but agile countries, internationally recognized for their strong economic freedom and competitiveness. It means that we have a lot in common.
Estonia ranks among the top countries in Europe in the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom, reflecting our commitment to open markets, strong property rights, and limited government intervention.
In the World Bank’s Doing Business report, Estonia has been among the top nations for ease of doing business, due to our efficient regulatory framework, low bureaucracy, and high transparency.
Estonia also stands out in the Tax Foundation’s International Tax Competitiveness Index, where we have held the top position for over a decade. Our simple, transparent, and neutral tax system was built to support investment, innovation, and entrepreneurship. We were honoured to be able to share our experiences in helping you build-up Botswana’s e-tax system.
As we have small population, to succeed our education system has to be a pillar of strength – Estonia leads Europe in the OECD PISA rankings, providing a highly skilled and digitally literate workforce. As a former scientist and rector, I strongly welcome and encourage cooperation in the fields of science and education through various programmes.
Estonia’s global digital success story is well known. Today, we are working to extend that success to new domains. One exciting development is our AI leap in education.
Through a nationwide initiative, we are integrating artificial intelligence tools into classrooms and providing training programs for teachers. The aim is to ensure that both students and educators are equipped to thrive in a world increasingly shaped by AI and digital tools.
A key innovation that showcases Estonia’s digital leadership is the e-Residency program. This unique initiative enables entrepreneurs from around the globe to establish and manage companies online, with full access to the European Union’s single market.
With e-Residency, there is no need to be physically present in Estonia. All core business functions – from company registration to banking and tax declaration – can be done remotely, using Estonia’s secure digital infrastructure. Unfortunately, we only have 8 Botswanan e-residents, so something that we can work on.
Estonia is deeply committed to sharing its digital know-how with international partners.
I am pleased to note that Estonian companies already have practical experience in Botswana, including: Nortal, which has developed digital solutions with the Botswana Unified Revenue Service, and Baltic Computer Systems, which is currently implementing a Team Europe Initiative on digitalisation launched last month by contributing to digital skills training programs.
We believe there is great potential to build on this experience. Estonia’s digital expertise can support public sector modernization and contribute to Botswana’s efforts toward economic diversification.
We look forward to strengthening the cooperation between our countries and exploring new partnerships in digital innovation, business development, and knowledge exchange.
Use this visit as an opportunity to learn about what Estonia has to offer. My team is here to support you in finding the right contacts and the right partners. Estonia is open for business!
Thank you, and I wish you a successful and inspiring seminar.
