Signing of Memorandum of Cooperation with the Republic of Estonia in the Digital Field
Published on May 6, 2022
On May 6, 2022, during a visit to Estonia, Dr. MAKISHIMA Karen, then Minister for Digital signed the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in the digital field with H.E. Mr. Andres SUTT, Minister for Entrepreneurship and Information Technology of the Republic of Estonia in the Capital Tallinn.
Minister Makishima commented that she was very honored to visit Estonia as her first official visit after assuming the post of the Minister of Digital and to sign the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) that H.E. Mr. Sutt proposed during the online meeting this February.
Minister Makishima also commented that through this MoC, she would like to establish more specific cooperation with Estonia, the digitally advanced country, that shares common values to further develop the mutual understanding of innovative digital government, and to share the experience and specific knowledge to solve the social issues as well as to promote the joint events, personnel exchange, and to enhance the collaboration of the Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT).
In response, Minister Sutt stated that this was the first MoC to be signed in the digital field, and through this, he would like to enhance the collaboration with Japan, a country known worldwide for its technology and innovation, in digital field including the personnel exchange and the business alignments.
Both ministers then signed their respective duplicated MoCs displayed on the tablet devices.
Summary of the Memorandum of Cooperation
Objective
To promote collaboration and enhance mutual understanding between the Digital Agency and the Estonian Ministry of Economy and Communications.
Areas of Cooperation
Areas of collaboration or alignments and the measures include (but are not limited to) the following.
Exchange best practices, experiences and expertise in innovative and effective digital government and society solutions, policies and regulations, innovative public procurement and governance models. The focus will be set on, but not limited to the usage and implementation of the digital ID, certifications, secure data exchange layer, cloud services, secure data usage and standardization, data protection and privacy rules and cyber security. Both participants will work together with a view to operationalizing the concept of the Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT) and implementing Trusted Connectivity.
Organize joint events, expert level site or study visits, exchanges between and of officials and other experts, exchange of materials and information, and initiate other activities in the field of digital development of knowledge exchange and fostering of cooperation between the two countries and various institutions.
Explore the possibility of formulating an arrangement for the realization of the exchange of experts or officials for a certain period to seek potential cooperation areas in a deeper manner.
Identify challenges and find out the effective and priority use-cases and roadmap for digital government development.
Develop policy initiatives, proofs-of-concepts, demo and/or pilot solutions or projects in the field of ICT.
Explore the possibility of promoting cooperation and facilitating partnerships of technology companies and communities for joint innovation initiatives and development of digital services in both countries as well as beyond.
Explore the possibility of joint initiatives towards collaboration on boosting digital development in third countries.
Other fields to be jointly decided.
Duration
The cooperation under this MoC will commence on the date of its signing and will be continued for a period of three years. Thereafter, it will automatically be renewed for further periods of one year.
Signature date and the signatory for MoC
- Date of signature： May 6, 2022
- Venue：Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of the Republic of Estonia (Tallinn, the Republic of Estonia)
- Signed by:
MAKISHIMA Karen, then Minister for Digital, Digital Agency Japan
Andres SUTT, Minister for Entrepreneurship and Information Technology of Estonia