Estonian companies, ready to assist in digitizing Romanian economy

Companies from Estonia, where the public sector is 99% digitized, are ready to assist in strengthening the Romanian IT sector, said the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eva-Maria Liimets, who is carrying out an official visit to Romania, Agerpres reports.

She took part in the Romania-Estonia Business Forum, organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania and the Estonian Embassy in Bucharest.

"Estonia and Romania have had very good economic relations for many years and there is a huge potential for developing these relations. The commercial volume between our countries is approximately 90 million Euro, but, based on the number of inhabitants in both countries, it should be around 300 million Euro. So I hope that through today's seminar, along with the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Estonian Enterprise (Estonian Investment Bureau, ed. n.) we will improve the commercial relation between our countries," Liimets said.

She stressed that the main sector of cooperation between the two countries is digital economy.

"We see a potential for our business in various sectors of the Romanian economy, especially in the digital economy. In our delegation we have companies from fintech, cybersecurity, defence industry, but all have a connection with digitizing the economy, and also, we have in our delegation the company that created electronic ID cards in Estonia. I believe that this is the future and this is the sector we need to focus on," the Estonian Foreign Minister said.

According to her, public services in Estonia have almost been entirely digitized.

Asked about how her country managed to do this, she replied: "We began digitizing since the 90's, when Estonia had a project of connecting all schools to the Internet. Then the first digital services for business and people were launched in 2000. So we have been developing this type of service for 22 years for our population and companies and we now have 99% online public services".

According to Mihai Daraban, the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CCIR), there are 73 companies with Estonian capital in Romania, with a subscribed capital of 1.2 million Euro.

"Many companies are in the IT&C sector and collaborate very well in the area with Romanian companies," Daraban said.