Estonia, Iceland eye digital cooperation

Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas Wednesday met visiting Iceland's Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir here to explore bilateral digital cooperation.

"Iceland and Estonia are close friends and partners who share a common understanding on digitalization and e-governance. We both understand that digital solutions help the society to operate more efficiently and transparently," Ratas was quoted as saying in a statement.

"Today, our main focus was to find ways for intensifying data exchange and digital cooperation," he noted.

"We know that Estonia has been a leader in the development of e-governance for many years now, including electronic voting, e-residency, and e-embassy. Iceland is currently forming a policy on increased investment in innovation and research," Jakobsdottir was quoted as saying.

The two prime ministers also discussed bilateral within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and regional cooperation between the Nordic and the Baltic States, according to the statement.

The partnership between the eight Baltic and Nordic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland) is currently coordinated by Iceland who will pass on the duty to Estonia next year, it added.