Estonian digital minister meets with Quebecois counterpart

TALLINN - Estonian Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs Liisa Pakosta met with Quebec's Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Transformation Éric Caire on the sidelines of the Incyber Forum Montreal, one of Canada's largest cybersecurity conferences.

Quebec has long held a strong interest in Estonia's digital solutions and today submitted an application to become a partner of the Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS).

"Quebec’s interest in Estonia's digital solutions shows they are effective, secure, and applicable globally," Pakosta said.

"The open approach to further developing Estonia's data exchange layer X-Tee has attracted partners and friends from Asia to Iceland and South America, which creates better opportunities for Estonian companies to contribute to building efficient, secure, and modern digital services worldwide, including in Quebec," she added.

The government of Quebec is particularly interested in Estonia's practices in digitizing public sector services, electronic identity, data management, cybersecurity, and open governance. Caire's goal is to implement a functional digital ID in Quebec and enhance data exchange systems. Quebec will also be prominently represented at the Tallinn Digital Summit, held in Tallinn on Nov. 19-20. Efforts are underway to sign a cooperation agreement between Estonian and Quebec government institutions during this summit, covering the topics mentioned above.

The meeting also addressed areas where Quebec is setting an example for other countries and from which Estonia can also learn -- the region is a strong center for artificial intelligence development and has recently made significant strides in expanding internet access to sparsely populated areas.

Interest among Estonian companies in Quebec is growing -- in addition to NIIS, companies such as Bikeep, Glia, Nortal, and Skeleton are showing interest in Canada and North America. E-residents' companies like Rootcode are also operating successfully in the market, and the number of e-residents from Canada is increasing. Estonia's Honorary Consul in Montreal Connor Olev O'Brien also attended the meetings alongside the ministers.

The Incyber Forum is one of Canada's most significant events on cybersecurity and digital trust. This year's main theme is "Cybersecurity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence."