The Head of State introduced Estonia's e-governance opportunities, security and strengths to the participants of the conference, and noted that secure digital identity is the key issue for the development of well-working e-solutions. "We should strive to achieve a system of digital signatures that could be acceptable throughout the Nordic countries and Baltic states, as this would facilitate co-operation in the sphere of various e-services. Last year, Estonia and Finland entered into an agreement that will allow the citizens of both countries to enjoy similar digital services, among these the creation of a common e-prescription system," told President Ilves.
Read more: Ilves: Nordic countries and Estonia have leading role in development of e-government
Read more: EE: Initially planned e-health objectives remain unachieved
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
The agreement is believed to be the first international agreement to be concluded using electronic signatures.
The agreement involves Estonia's assistance to Finland in adopting the X-Road system, the "backbone" data exchange layer that connects the different databases used by the nation's various online services, said a statement by the Estonian Government Office on Wednesday.
"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