Estonia and Ukraine have signed a cooperation agreement in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to promote an exchange of experiences in the field of digital transformation; the work focuses on cyber security and national digital solutions.
As part of the cooperation agreement, Estonia and Ukraine are planning to increase cooperation in developing user-centred and mobile-based digital government. The Estonian Information System Authority and Ukrainian agency Diia shall pilot a national mobile application.
Diia is a mobile app, a web portal, and a brand of e-governance in Ukraine. Launched in 2020, the app allows Ukrainian citizens to use digital documents in their smartphones instead of physical ones for identification and sharing purposes. The Diia portal allows access to over 50 governmental services.
The Estonian government chief information officer, Luukas Kristjan Ilves, said that the capability of Ukraine’s digital government had grown rapidly in recent years.
“In the last five years, Ukraine has built a powerful digital state, which follows Estonia’s lead in many ways,” Ilves said in a statement.
“Ukraine has also relied on our experience in creating its digital identity and many sector-specific services. We, in turn, have much to learn from Ukraine, whose new services are user-friendly and mobile-based. During the war, Ukrainians have demonstrated incredible agility, creating completely new e-services within days and weeks.”
Estonia supports the continuity of Ukraine’s digital government services
According to the Estonian IT minister, Kristjan Järvan, Ukraine’s success in countering cyberattacks shows that the exchange of knowledge between the two countries has been fruitful.
“Estonia was the first country whose example we followed when we just started establishing the ministry of digital transformation. Their vision of digital transformation and the creation of a digital state inspired and inspires us to launch services in a few clicks,” the Ukrainian deputy prime minister and digital transformation minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, pointed out.
Since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Estonian authorities have supported the continuity of Ukrainian digital government services and boosted Ukraine’s resilience against cyberattacks.
Ukraine and Estonia are also planning to deepen cooperation in the international arena. Ukraine is on the road to membership of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence located in Tallinn at the invitation of Estonia, who is also inviting Ukraine to participate in various international projects.
