Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Technology

Photo by Oleg Hartšenko.

The purpose of the visit was to exchange experience and best practices, introduce globally recognized e-government solutions and operating principles as well as provide an overview of the background of Estonian e-government’s success and future prospects.

In a press release issued after the visit, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) faction of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament noted that the young Republic of Estonia with its digitization strategy has become the model country for digitalisation in the European Union. Following the strategy and leadership of Estonia in the field of digitization the CDU parliamentary group under leadership of Armin Laschet will introduce proposals for better environment in matter of digitalisation in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

At the meeting with the delegation, Nortal’s founder and CEO Priit Alamäe emphasized that the success of Estonian e-government does not lie only in technological capacity and the ability to create great IT solutions, but rather in influential and impactful decisions that have enabled changes in existing practices, systems and legislation. “Estonian e-government’s transformation has been significant and we have come a long way, but it is an ongoing process that must continue – there is always room for improvement,” Alamäe added. As an example of an important step from the past, Alamäe referred to the decision that states that authorities cannot ask citizens again for the data that has already been submitted once and exists in the state’s information systems.

“The visit of the North Rhine-Westphalia parliament’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) faction is notable and confirms the interest in closer cooperation, hopefully opening possibilities for it,” said Alamäe. GDP of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2014 was more than 600 billion euros, a fifth of total GDP of Germany, and the state is often considered the IT hub of Germany.

According to Fortune Magazine, the headquarters of four of the world’s top 100 companies are in North Rhine-Westphalia. Major corporations are located in the state, including energy producers E.ON and RWE, retailers Metro, Aldi Nord, Aldi Süd, Rewe, pharmaceutical company Bayer, telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, post and logistics firm Deutsche Post, as well as industrial machinery group ThyssenKrupp and others.