Ilves pushes e-state

  • 2011-11-09
  • From wire reports

TALLINN - Speaking at an international conference on e-solutions and cyber-security in London, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves urged representatives of 65 nations attending the event not to overlook e-state and e-government and to provide both in the interests of their citizens, reports LETA. President Ilves said that although he could focus on the darker side of the issue, with Estonia having been the first country to experience a cyber-attack, he would happily talk about the positives, giving his country as an example.

As one of the key speakers at the conference, to which decision-makers from more than fifty countries were invited by British Foreign Minister William Hague, the Estonian head of state drew a picture of contemporary Estonia including the X-road, digital signatures, e-elections, e-police, digital prescriptions and the opportunities offered by the www.eesti.ee portal.
“All of these e-solutions, which are used every day in Estonia, support openness and democracy, rein in corruption and make it much easier for our citizens to deal with the state,” said President Ilves, who is chairing the European Union’s working group on e-health care.

“It’s vital in a democratic society where more and more e-state-style solutions are being used that the information that’s collected about citizens is made available to the citizens themselves and that their being accessed by others is effectively obstructed and monitored,” he said.