Today, the first high-level virtual visit with a business delegation took place between Estonia and Iceland. Both Estonia and Iceland were represented by foreign ministers at the meeting, as well as e-governance and digitalisation experts and companies. The aim of the meeting was to advance digital relations between Estonia and Iceland, with a particular focus on e-state solutions and fighting COVID-19.
Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu underlined the importance of cooperation between Estonia and Iceland in the field of digitalisation. “Estonia and Iceland have a lot in common and a similar e-governance structure suits us both. It is great to see Iceland also as a member of the Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS), the association of Nordic countries that further develop the X-Road data exchange layer. Secure data exchange is an important step towards the creation of a comprehensive e-governance infrastructure and boosting cooperation between countries. The current global situation has clearly demonstrated the importance of digitalisation,” Reinsalu said.
Iceland was represented at the meeting by Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarson and Andri Heiðar Kristinsson, the CEO of Digital Iceland, the national portal for digital services. In addition to the foreign minister, Estonia was represented by Kristo Vaher, the Government Chief Technology Officer at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.
Participating Estonian companies were Cybernetica, Gofore, Cognuse, Mobi Lab and Dermtest. Iceland was represented by PayAnalytics, Curron, Proency, Kara Connect, Taktikal, and Flow VR. The public section of the event was followed by private bilateral meetings between companies and their prospective cooperation partners.
Additional information:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia
Communication Department
[email protected]