President Karis spoke about the strengthening of economic cooperation during meetings with the Head of State and the Speaker of the National Assembly of Botswana. He invited Botswana to participate with a business delegation at the African Business Forum in Tallinn in May. “Estonian digital companies are very interested in entering the rapidly developing African market, including in Botswana, in the areas of digitalisation, e-governance, cybersecurity, and green and education technologies,” said President Karis. The Government of Botswana has a long-term plan to go digital in order to ensure the country’s competitiveness and offer quality services to its citizens and is very interested in cooperation with Estonia.
President Karis also spoke about Estonia’s digitalisation experience at the Science and Technology Park in Gaborone during a discussion of digital transformation and economic competitiveness, which was attended by Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lemogang Kwape, and entrepreneurs from both countries.
Speaking about Estonia’s experience and lessons learned over the last thirty years in digitising the public sector and creating an e-society, President Karis said that 99% of public services are now available online. “Our principle is that when a new public service is created, it must be digital as well as user-friendly,” said the President of the Republic.
He spoke to Botswana’s leaders and entrepreneurs about the experience of Estonia in adopting electronic identity, the internet that arrived in schools with Tiger Leap, e-voting, and the need to protect the systems against cyberattacks and contribute to cybersecurity. “As Estonia’s own success has been based on the involvement of the whole of society and a close partnership between the public and private sectors, this is how we do development cooperation,” said President Karis. “We want to bring in our best brains and best ideas when we offer joint projects to our partners.”
He also highlighted opportunities for cooperation between Estonia and Botswana in higher education and science. “Estonia is offering those interested in the digitisation of society a one-year master’s programme at the University of Tartu, which will introduce our 30-year history and the experience of e-Estonia.”
Speaking about the successful cooperation between Estonian companies and the Botswana government, President Karis mentioned Nortal as an example, which helped the Botswana Unified Revenue Service to build a new tax administration system. “We have several other companies that are interested in cooperation,” assured the Estonian Head of State. During the visit, President Karis and Estonian entrepreneurs met with the head of the Botswana Unified Revenue Service to discuss future plans.
Representatives of Nortal, Digital Nation, and Admirals Group are holding meetings with Botswana entrepreneurs in parallel with the visit of the Estonian Head of State. Today, they will have a business session with Botswana entrepreneurs to discuss local business opportunities, mutual interests, and cooperation.
