Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Forum, Internet, Technology

Foreign Minister Urmas Paet emphasized that for Estonia, Internet freedom is an integral part of human rights. "In the case of the Internet, security and freedom are not mutually exclusive concepts," the foreign minister said. "Estonia is currently the chairman of the Freedom Online Coalition, which implies that we have a great opportunity, but also the challenge of managing the work of the Coalition made up of members from 23 different countries. We must collectively ensure that as a result of our close cooperation, we are ready to support and protect Internet freedom in various parts of the globe," Paet added.

At the Coalition's annual conference starting today in Tallinn, the ministers of more than ten countries, as well as other high-level representatives from around the world will speak.

Attendees of the conference will include the President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands Frans Timmermans, Kenyan Speaker David Ekwee Ethuro, Nigerian Foreign Minister Viola Adaku Onwuliri, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, Mongolian Foreign Minister Luvsanvandan Bold, UK Minister for Europe David Lidington, Irish Minister of State at the Department of Communications Fergus O'Dowd, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, New Zealand Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams and Tanzanian Minister working in the field of e-technology Makame Mbarawa.

Among the speakers are UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression Frank La Rue and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic. Those representing the views of the private sector include Google Vice President and one of the founders of the Internet Vint Cerf and Richard Allan, who is the Vice President of Public Relations for Facebook in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Representing global NGOs will be Eileen Donahoe, Director of Global Affairs at Human Rights Watch and Frederick Donck, who is the Director for the European Regional Bureau of the Internet Society (ISOC).

As a result of the discussions, members of the Freedom Online Coalition wish to jointly approve recommendations on how to ensure that online freedoms remain central to Internet governance models and their fundamental principles in the future.

The Freedom Online Coalition was founded in 2011 at the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands at the Internet freedom conference held in The Hague. Today, the number of coalition members has grown to 23 states. In addition to Estonia, members includes Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, Maldives, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, U.S.A., UK, Sweden, Costa Rica, Finland, Tunisia, Latvia, Germany, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Japan. The aim of the Freedom Online Coalition is to protect and promote freedom of the Internet globally and to shape international decisions based on its fundamental principles.