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President Ilves meets presidents of Namibia and Cape Verde Islands

22.09.2010

The President of the Republic, Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, met yesterday in New York with the Head of State of the Republic of Namibia, Mr. Hifikepunye Pohamba, and assured him of Estonia’s readiness to share its skills and knowledge in establishing an e-governance system for Namibia.

“The e-governance solutions that are developed in Estonia are appreciated for their efficiency, reliability, and safety. The common strategy of the European Union and Africa emphasises the need for co-operation in the IT sphere, and Estonia is willing to contribute to building up IT solutions in African countries, particularly Namibia,” said President Ilves.

According to the Head of State, Estonia expects that representatives of Namibia will come and experience our IT-achievements and participate in the training programmes offered by the eGovernance Academy. President Ilves also recalled the mission of the representative of the eGovernance Academy, Mr. Ivar Tallo, to Namibia to lead the e-governance workshop back in 2004.

Namibia, which gained independence in 1990, established diplomatic relations with Estonia in 2004. In the past number of years, the country has become popular among Estonian tourists looking for an exotic destination.

President Ilves also met yesterday with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Cape Verde, Mr. José Maria Neves. The alternatives for possible co-operation in the IT sphere were also discussed at the meeting; the same issues have been discussed by the representatives of Estonia and Cape Verde at a number of previous meetings.

“I highly appreciate the interest the Government of Cape Verde has in the development of its e-governance systems and of taking Estonia’s experiences into consideration. I do believe that Estonia is competitive in terms of both quality and price, and we are highly experienced in training specialists,” President Ilves told.

The Head of State emphasised that after having achieved its main national goals by becoming a member of the European Union, NATO and OECD, Estonia is ready to expand its international communications network, Africa included.

Cape Verde, which gained its independence back in 1975, established diplomatic relations with Estonia in 1991; to date, relations between the two countries have been governed by co-operation in the IT sphere.

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