Cooperation, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Innovations, Internet, Technology

Estonian Minister of Entrepreneurship and IT Rene Tammist, who met with Icelandic Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir and Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Bjarni Benediktsson on Tuesday, said that Estonians are expecting strong partnership from Iceland also in the further development of the X-Road.

"Digital technologies are constantly evolving and we also expect Iceland's contribution to the further developments of the X-Road. In order to develop the data exchange platform, we in cooperation with Finland have established the non-profit association Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS) and are also inviting Iceland to join it," the minister said.

Iceland is planning to start using the X-Road platform for national data exchange. Both state institutions as well as enterprises need to exchange data protected from third parties. "With the expansion of the X-Road to Iceland, it will be possible to present an example to Sweden and Norway, too. The more countries using the same technology, the easier it will be to develop international cooperation. We can also facilitate the movement of information for people's travelling and employment abroad," Tammist said.

The first foreign country to adopt Estonia's X-Road for cross-border data exchange was Finland. Via the X-Road platform, the Finns are already able to get their digital prescriptions in Estonian pharmacies and the plan is to also enable the same for Estonians in Finland. In addition, the data exchange between the population registers, commercial registers and other state institutions of Estonia and Finland is being prepared.

"Next to data exchange, cyber security is an important part of a digital state. More and more crime is taking place in the cyberspace and every country must learn to protect its citizens from threats. Thus, we support Iceland's joining of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) located in Estonia," Tammist said.

"Created by Estonians, the X-Road is a flexible, highly secure and cost-effective solution for the exchange of data between state institutions. For us, this is an ideal solution for improving Iceland's public services and IT infrastructure," Iceland's Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Bjarni Benediktsson said.

"We are making great efforts to update Iceland's public sector systems. We are very excited to implement new technologies and hope to cooperate more closely than before with Estonia and Finland. A joint data exchange platform in the form of the X-Road creates a good basis for that," Benediktsson added.