Workshop on Estonia e-Governance Experience: Lessons for Moldova
14-05-2010

The workshop was chaired by Arvo Ott, the Executive Director of e-Governance Academy.

The driving force for e-Government development in Estonia, the Informatics Council, was formed under the Government of the country, the CIOs in this council were responsible for ICT policy in each ministry.

Since then, 700 Public Internet Access Points were created in Estonia, 63% of households have computers, 71% of population use the Internet, 90% of tax declarations of citizens and 97% of businesses are transferred electronically. The wide access to the Internet came as a political decision to provide a basic human right to each citizen. Escaping from the digital divide, the ID cards were introduced as a unique mechanism for identification. Digital certificates are issued free of charge for citizens that is supported by the banks. 200 databases (the state and private ones) are connected to e-Government system using a unified standard, that helps provide over 1,000 services - both in electronic and mobile form.