By FERNANDO MARTIN O. PEÑA
HONORARY CONSUL GENERAL
The Republic of Estonia celebrates today its 107th National Day and Independence.
The world’s first digital society
The Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region with a population of approximately more than 1.3 million. Estonia is dubbed as the world’s most advanced digital society and the cyber security capital of Europe.
Estonia prides itself by becoming the first country in the world to digitize 100 percent of its government services in December 2024 as the country continues to provide its citizens hassle-free digital services to take care of everyday necessities of life, including basic government services, education, legislation and health care.
In recent years, Estonia played a big part in developing Skype which was the pioneering work of Estonians Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn in August 2003.
Trade, foreign direct investment and service sector are the main sources of income in Estonia and it is expected to further attain growth and development in the coming years.
Estonia ranks first in Education among European countries and is also known to be the cleanest country in the world.
Estonia and the Philippines
The Republic of Estonia seeks to participate in the Republic of the Philippine quest to become the new E-Philippines. It hosted the last Open Government Partnership on Feb. 5-7, 2025 attended by over 70 Philippine delegates led by Department of Budget and Management Secretary Hon. Amenah F. Pangandaman, and Hon. Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan Uy. The event was a venue for the discussion of methods and innovative solutions to improve governance in the Asia-Pacific.
On Dec. 8-11, 2024, at the invitation of the DICT through its Office for E-Government, the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Estonia in Manila attended the DICT event entitled Government Digitalization Cooperation: A Collaboration in Developing Capacity-Building Solutions which aimed to advance digital governance and enhance cooperation between the Republic of Estonia and the Philippines. The event also served as a venue to discuss the emerging digital technologies and ways to promote digital solutions in different sectors.
Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Estonia and the Republic of the Philippines were formally established on Dec. 19, 1991 and have continued through the years.
In June 2024, the Republic of Estonia held the Global Conference of Estonian Honorary Consuls, which featured among others, the presentation of the political and economic situation/indicators in Estonia, information and communication technology of Estonia, biomedicine and biotechnology and smart industrial solutions. This event was an opportunity to exchange experiences, to continue the discussion on bilateral cooperation in relation to digital connectivity, e-governance and other areas of mutual interest and explore innovative strategy to attain E-Philippines.
Today, the Republic of Estonia through Estonia Ambassador to the Philippines Mr. Mait Martinson is continuously moving forward in close partnership with the Republic of the Philippines in its efforts in digital transformation together with Estonian’s business delegations coming to the Philippines and meeting with different government agencies.
And with the recent meeting of his Excellency President Ferdinand R. Marcos and our former President Kersti Kaljulaid, continuous meetings between the Republic of Estonia and the Philippines represented by Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and Estonia Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna respectively, have forged partnerships in digitalization and cybersecurity in the Philippines