Estonia and the US have both shown that economic freedom and democracy are the basis of prosperity and happiness. We are working closely together to promote democratic values and good governance.
Being a small nation means that Estonian businesses have to work more on cross-border contacts than the average firms in Europe. I am happy to say that The US is among the top export destinations for Estonia.
Estonia is known for the e-success. This is due to brave decisions decades ago and hard work since then. We are always trying to find new ways to innovate. For example, we have established a nationwide AI/robot law and this has created a boom in the mobility sector. We have a galaxy of start-ups in this field now.
Just today we opened the office of Clevon here in Dallas. They build autonomous electric vehicles for transportation of goods. These cars are already operating in Europe and I know there could be great use of these vehicles here too.
As most countries in Europe, we are also working on our energy sector issues right now. We acknowledged the importance of energy security long time ago, and we have limited our dependence on Russian gas. The first stage of LNG terminal near the capital will be completed and functional in the coming months. This will assure the energy security for the whole region including The Baltics and Finland.
I am sure that the company developing this terminal is interested in long-term contracts with the US energy companies as well as strategic partners, who would match their ambition developing the energy sector in Europe.
We are also working on green energy. The amount of solar panels installed on roofs and fields has increased a lot recently. It is mandatory for most new buildings to install solar-panels, but due to high energy prices there is anyway a huge interest from the business sector to invest in solar energy. The future may still be in the off-shore wind farms. The government estimates that there is room for about 7 gigawatts of installed off-shore wind farms, but the private sector is even more ambitious.
We have not excluded the possibility to build a nuclear plant.
I would like to assure you, that Estonia is an easy place to do business. The economy has transformed in the recent decades. The living standard as measured in GDP per capita in real terms has more than tripled in the last thirty years. But despite of what we have accomplished, we are dynamic and fast growing economy with lots of flexibility and high economic freedom.
I welcome you to be part of the future success stories of Estonia!
