“Estonia’s own experience has taught us that the more open, transparent and digital society is, the stronger the democracy is and the less we see corruption. This also helps reduce expenses,” noted the President of the Republic.
This is why, according to President Karis, Estonia unequivocally supports development of a free and secure digital society that protects human rights and the privacy of citizens. “When we restored our independence over 30 years ago, we had very limited resources and we had to re-build our future from scratch. Digital technologies played an essential role in this and helped us save at least 2% of our GDP annually. Estonia has managed to achieve a paperless e-governance system. Our public services are 99% online based, giving our citizens the opportunity to interact with the state 24/7,” explained the Estonian head of state.
President Karis pointed out that Estonia is developing artificial intelligence components to support digital government services. He added that globally, Estonia contributes to building digital public infrastructure through several international partnerships.
The high-level event entitled “Accelerating the Future of Digital Cooperation” and organised by Estonia, Norway, Germany, the UN Development Programme, UNICEF and the World Bank was held as part of the UN General Assembly opening week.
Besides the Estonian head of state, the discussion was joined by Queen of the Netherlands Máxima, President of Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner, philanthropist and BMGF founder Bill Gates and many other prominent figures.
