Estonia, Costa Rica sign ICT cooperation accord

  • 2019-09-12
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN – Costa Rica's minister for science, technology and telecommunications, Luis Adrian Salazar Solis, and the Estonian minister of foreign trade and ICT, Kert Kingo, on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation between the two countries on sharing of experience in the field of digital state and digital economy. 

Costa Rica has launched a large-scale strategy of digital change, aimed at speeding up the digitalization of public sector and strengthening cyber security in public institutions, spokespeople for the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications said.

"We hope that the signing of the cooperation accord will open up new opportunities for Estonian ICT companies on the vast market of Latin America," Kingo said in a press release published after the signing of the accord in Tallinn.

In accordance with the cooperation accord, Costa Rica and Estonia will share experiences in the spheres of e-services of the state and digital economy solutions. It will be done by means of joint initiatives, exchanges between ICT businesses and experts, as well as other projects.

The deputy secretary general of the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications for ICT, Siim Sikkut, said that even though economic relations between Estonia and Costa Rica have rather been subdued to date, in the field of ICT interest toward interaction has been increasing all the time. 

"They are very much interested in the X-Road data exchange layer, and just like Estonia, Minister Solis stressed the importance of cooperation between the public and the private sector," Sikkut said.

The deputy secretary general said that Estonian experts are definitely prepared to work together with Costa Rica in devising e-government solutions and share their experiences, meaning transfer of Estonia's good solutions. 

"This is what cooperation accords like this are about -- increasing Estonia's e-services exports," Sikkut said.