Following the meetings, the Estonian head of state remarked that he was delighted to see bilateral relations with countries in Africa deepening. “However, our aim is to bolster that cooperation even further,” he added. “The most obvious area of interest is mutual cooperation in the digital sphere. Estonia is willing to share its experience in establishing e-governance and boosting the capabilities of the public sector, as well as in improving the digital skills of society more broadly.”
President Karis mentioned the cooperation between the Estonian company Nortal and the Botswana Unified Revenue Service as an example of digital cooperation that is already being pursued. Since 2004 Estonia has also been providing e-governance advice and assistance to Namibia, which based its business registry on the Estonian system. The Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications is also working with Namibia.
President Karis says Estonia and Europe as a whole aims to contribute to the digital reshaping of African countries. “We also want to reduce the gap between European and African investments and work together towards achieving sustainable development goals in Africa,” he added. To this end, Estonia is an active member of Team Europe, which includes driving cooperation forward via the Global Gateway initiative.
Also discussed during the meetings was Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. President Karis stressed the importance of helping the Ukrainians in every way and bringing the aggressor to justice.
Another topic of discussion was joint activities within the United Nations. President Karis noted that Estonia is also known as the birthplace of the now global World Cleanup Day, for which reason it can be hoped that support will be found for Estonia’s initiative to have the annual event declared one of the UN’s International Days.
