IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

"Our wish is to make e-services transnational and compatible with neighbouring countries," President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said today in Helsinki at the international IT and startup conference Slush, reports BC presidential press service.

President Ilves gave an example of how a Finnish pensioner visiting Pärnu could fill a digital prescription written in his or her homeland in Estonian pharmacies. "We can start co-operating with neighbouring Nordic and Baltic countries and move on to the rest of Europe," he added. The Head of State noted that transnational safety regulations and standards are a prerequisite for this kind of co-operation.

Read more: Estonian president spoke about cross-border e-services in Helsinki

Current European Union (EU) General Affairs Council in Luxembourg made preparations for the upcoming European Council meeting that will take place in Brussels on October 24-25, 2013, reports BC the Foreign Ministry of Estonia.

Ambassador of Estonia to the European Union Matti Maasikas, who represented Estonia at the meeting, said that the main topics of discussion at this week’s European Council meeting is the digital economy, innovation, and services. Ambassador Matti Maasikas maintains that the Council will evaluate the current state of the digital development action plan and provide specific guidelines to achieve the digital single market by 2015.

Read more: At EU Council Estonia stresses development of e-services at all levels

Yesterday, Esotnia’s president Toomas Hendrik Ilves spoke at the international ICT forum ICT2013 in Vilnius, which focused on growth, creativity and innovation. In the course of the discussion on modernisation and building bridges, the Estonian Head of State stressed the importance of trust when developing e-services and promoting innovation, especially in light of recent concerns over privacy, informed BC presidential press service.

"Now the trend seems to be more towards dismantling bridges and building forts, not the other way around," the President stated and warned that loss of trust and withdrawing would eventually make us give up everything positive that we have achieved with IT so far.

Read more: EE: Ilves: the safety of e-services does not imply secluding oneself

The access in Estonia to the e-services and information offered by the state is among the best in the European Union, the European Commission's 2012 e-governments comparative study indicates, LETA/Delfi reports.

The eGovernment Benchmark 2012 report surveyed 28,000 internet users across 32 countries.

While generally EU's e-services users are more satisfied with Internet baking and commerce than pubic Internets services, for Estonia, the comparative study points out state portal eesti.ee where people have access to more than a hundred state e-services and sources of information.

Read more: Estonia's e-government still one of the best in Europe