Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Global Advocate of United Nations Secretary-General Kersti KALJULAID addresses the global community in the beginning of 2022.
Merry Christmas, everyone, and Happy New Year!
I would truly wish to see that the next year is happy for every woman, every child and every adolescent on this planet. Yet I know, this is not the case. Partially yes, it´s the pandemic. Many women do not dare to go to the doctor or to the midwife, or they cannot go. Many kids have lost access to school and also to the school meals.
But not only pandemics, wars and conflicts are going on. Despite the call of the Secretary-General for ceasefire, at least for pandemics. Life of women and children in conflict is hard. More children are starving than before the pandemics. We cannot get the time back which we have lost. But we have to first crawl back up the mountain, up the hilltop, to be able to guarantee that every child and every woman in this world can safely say with confidence “Happy New Year!”, and truly believe that this new year will be happier.
I also wish to greet all those people who have contributed to the EWEC movement or the United Nations, and also more widely, who have contributed to make life of children, women and adolescents better on this planet.
Thank you all, together we can truly say – Happy New Year!
<div style="width: 640px;" class="wp-video">
<video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-605-1" width="640" height="360" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src="https://admin.kerstikaljulaid.ee/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Kersti-Kaljulaid-EWEC-New-Years-greetings-2022.mp4?_=1" /><a href="https://admin.kerstikaljulaid.ee/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Kersti-Kaljulaid-EWEC-New-Years-greetings-2022.mp4">https://admin.kerstikaljulaid.ee/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Kersti-Kaljulaid-EWEC-New-Years-greetings-2022.mp4</a></video></div>

Global Advocate of EWEC Kersti Kaljulaid addresses the global community in the beginning of 2022

Before Christmas, I managed to see Martin Crimp’s Attempts on Her Life at the Estonian Drama Theatre. A masterpiece! Oddly enough, the play echoed The Love for Three Oranges, which soothed the brutality of the subject matter of the piece and made it watchable and thought-provoking.
On my way home, I began to think about the dissimilarities of the worlds of different generations and how they affect art. My life and that of the generations before me was shaped by the Soviet era, where the responsibility of an individual for their welfare was cut down to the bare minimum, as people without freedom do not have responsibility either. One of the cultural phenomena of this peculiar era was casual joking on ‘permitted’ topics, which we took with us into our new-found freedom. 
Once we gained our freedom, all sorts of restrictions and taboos vanished. This led to the birth of Kreisiraadio and other similar relaxed, carefree, risqué humour that left no room for a deeper subtext. Admittedly, some jokes were tasteless even back then, but there was no condemnation for moral, ethical or even environmental reasons.
Something began to change some time before the current pandemic – the carefree freedom and forward momentum characteristic to my generation left room for younger minds to reflect on the burden we are capable of carrying. How do we take responsibility for ourselves and our fellow citizens, but also for the future of Earth and humanity? Responsibility first entered art and culture in the form of playing with the idea of reuse in fashion, worrying about disappearing ecosystems and the rights of women and minorities and designing sustainable urban spaces for the future (which, admittedly, still remains in exhibition halls for the time being – visit the Museum of Estonian Architecture or have a look around Oaas).
In any case, we, a generation who rushes through their working life, largely motivated by consumption, have, in a way that is still a bit confusing to me, raised a new type of Estonian who is more reflective and perceives the worries of the world as their own. The welfare of humanity as a personal responsibility.
Our young theatre people and artists are constantly addressing the evils of this world. They are hardly more melancholic by nature than we were back in the day. They are simply more sensitive and attentive. Even the most comic plays of their generation carry a certain sombre worldview. There is still laughter because you need to get rid of the angst, but it is as if there is no room for carefree joking.
I am very grateful to this generation of 20-40-year-olds. The future is likely safer in your hands.
However, some of those future builders can still be found among current decision-makers. These are the people who have the will to break through the grey wall of bureaucracy and move forwards with offshore wind farms. Or with hydrogen plants or pumped hydro storage. Or with last-mile vehicles. Or with sharing economy. Or with Estonian-language schools by 2035 if there is no way we can manage it earlier. Or with topics concerning the mental health of young people. Or all of those nurses and doctors who sigh but still treat those who could have had it easier if they had protected themselves. And so on – wherever you look, people are building the future of Estonia. At home and away, by coming back and leaving again.
If the state does not take action, people will, either voluntarily or as entrepreneurs, show the state how things can and should be done. We have achieved a lot in the last year. 
This sensitivity towards future needs and personal responsibility is very encouraging. We are going to complete the green transition, thus ending both the reign of the virus and segregation in the Estonian school system. On the international scale, we will take increasingly more responsibility for the world. Each one of us is making Estonia better because future-sensitive Estonian people see that this is necessary. Even if the role of leadership is too big a job for those we have elected to do it, we will certainly move closer to these great objectives in 2022 thanks to Estonian people, who are increasingly more considerate and sensitive.
And with one big difference – we have learned from the impetuousness of the 90s that nobody must be left behind. Changes, even if they are positive and necessary, inevitably affect all of our people. Transitioning from oil shale energy to oil shale chemistry is good, but this change is difficult for many people in Ida-Viru County. We need time to get used to and adjust to seeing wind turbines on the horizon. The birth of a unified Estonian-language school triggers concerns in some schools over how to ensure that everyone in class makes progress in accordance with their abilities and receives sufficient attention. The macroeconomic numbers are reaching new heights, driven by Harju County, but we can no longer speak of many county centres as hubs of local life.
All positive changes also entail something complicated, unknown and difficult. People affected by change must feel that their greater than average contribution to the greater good is noticed, acknowledged and compensated. Many people will certainly have to adjust to something new for the common good, but as a society, we can make this adjustment as easy as possible.
Let 2022 be a year of decisions that are considerate yet still bold. We cannot make any mistakes. We are living in a time where some of us are doing exceptionally well and others really poorly. We are likely to continue to move forwards rapidly in 2022 on average, but we have the power to do so by being considerate of one another.

Kersti Kaljulaid: Let’s complete the green transition and end the reign of the virus and segregation in the school system

The Estonian Public Relations Association (EPRA) awarded this year’s title of PR Manager of the Year to President Kersti Kaljulaid, who has helped maintain focus on values important to Estonian society with great clarity and vigour both during her term of office and afterwards thanks to her active communication activities.
“The toolbox that comes with the office of the President of Estonia consists almost exclusively of communication solutions because the power of words is their only lever of power. President Kaljulaid used this power in Estonia and in the wider world in a distinctively value-based, effective and selfless manner, leaving a deeply positive mark on both our daily lives and the current and future expectations of the President of the Republic in our society,” President of EPRA Margus Mets explains the decision. President Kaljulaid’s activities in both domestic and international media as the protector and keeper of the image of Estonia, even when the words and actions of some other state leaders offended the sense of justice of the majority of society, are also worth acknowledging.
President Kaljulaid thanked the association for the acknowledgement. “When I took office, I promised that I would not remain silent when our security is in question, when our freedoms are at stake or when those weaker than us are treated unjustly, and this is the creed I followed during those five years. However, back when I worded this principle, I did not expect the topic of freedoms to become so central during my term in office – I guess that shows that many of the freedoms that were once carefully and presciently written into the constitution have not actually been thoroughly discussed, understood, worded and, where necessary, disputed in our society. This work will keep both me and the sitting heads of state busy in the future,” said President Kaljulaid when accepting the award.
<blockquote>When I took office, I promised that I would not remain silent when our security is in question, when our freedoms are at stake or when those weaker than us are treated unjustly</blockquote>
According to Mets, the president’s choice of when to speak up and on what topics and when to remain silent is a message in itself. “Likewise, the president’s choice of words, tone and performance also have value as a separate message. This is what constitutes the main task of every leader and manager, including PR managers – to find the right moment and the right words and to lead or explain the content and background of a decision in a way that enables the audience to take time to delve into details and increases their willingness to understand. Our professional association believes that Kersti Kaljulaid has been very good at this, which is why we want to thank her and highlight her as an example,” Mets notes. “President Kaljulaid has been a statesman in the truest and broadest meaning of the word, sending necessary messages even when everyone around her understood that these would not boost her personal popularity or bring any conjunctural political benefits in the short term. I would like to see more of this kind of selflessness in the speeches of our state leaders and less of the cynical-pragmatic political technological approach that prevails.
Last year, the EPRA annual award was given to Estonian medical professionals because in addition to doing their main jobs, doctors, nurses and carers played a crucial role in the coronavirus crisis, providing objective information to the society, quelling fears and providing science-based explanations of the reality that surrounds us both in the media and individually to each of their patients and charges. The award was accepted by Dr Arkadi Popov, who became the spokesman for the sector during the pandemic. 
The Estonian Public Relations Association awards the annual PR award to a person or organisation whose communicative activities have had the greatest impact in Estonia. Candidates submitted for the award may but do not have to work in the field of public relations, but their activities and public appearances must widely resonate in Estonian society.

Kaljulaid recieving EPRA award from Margus Mets

President Kersti Kaljulaid wins Estonian Public Relations Association’s Annual award

Hi, everybody!
I come from Estonia. You know what? To this day, Estonia is the only society in our world you could call totally digitally transformed. 
Why?
Because the Estonian government offers all its services online, almost 100%. The only thing you cannot do online is get married. But this is not a technical difficulty. We have chosen it to be this way. You have to show up to your own wedding.
Contrary to that, when you have a baby, you don’t have to go to the local municipality office to register the birth. Because, of course, when a baby is born in Estonia, the doctor creates in the e-health registry a record for a baby boy or a baby girl of 3 kilos, 50 cm, and in the background, the baby gets its digital-ID. Nobody pushes any buttons for that. And now the parents will log on and name the baby, online, all from the hospital bed or from a quiet place in their home. You don’t have to go to a crowded place and risk catching a disease. Catching a disease is a big risk for babies, and today, even grownups understand that. Estonian mothers don’t understand why elsewhere globally people have to go somewhere with their newborns to register their birth.
The same applies to all services the government offers. You realize that you passed a certain line when something goes wrong and it doesn’t function for a while. A couple of years ago, we had a hiccup in our system caused by a chip-maker. I will not name it but it was one of the biggest global chip-makers. And Estonians almost rioted. Some of our people had to go to a government office to renew their digital-IDs. Nobody knew where the government offices are in Estonia! And some people – shock and horror! – had to wait 30 minutes or even an hour (!) to get their new digital-ID up and running. And then we realized: yes, indeed, Estonia, while it is now home to seven unicorn companies, is a small economy. It doesn’t have digital behemoths in the private sector.
<blockquote>Each and every time somebody in the office looks at any file the government has on the citizen, there will be a digital fingerprint.</blockquote>
But societal change depends on what the government really does. And if for a generation the government has offered everything online, services online in the best-practice format of the private sector, this really changes the society. Why? Because it is inclusive. It is inclusive. Everybody in society – young people, grown-ups, the elderly – they are all involved. They are all together in this.
How does this happen? Well, 30 years ago, when Estonia re-gained its independence, the private sector was already becoming digitalized. And what we did, we thought that governments around the world would do very quickly. To this day, we are astonished that they didn’t. We are even more astonished that people think that it is safer to carry around papers with sensitive, private data and leave them in offices, in files for anyone to read.
Digital documents are much safer. The Estonian government has promised to our people that each and every time somebody in the office looks at any file the government has on the citizen, there will be a digital fingerprint. And we can see these fingerprints and we can make and inquiry. If we think that it was not necessary for the government official to look at my data, then the government sues these people – takes them to court – because they were nosing around in the system, in the data, which they were not supposed to do.
Of course, nobody in any government office has access to one person’s whole dataset, because this dataset does not exist. It’s in different, various databases. And only the person themselves can aggregate everything which concerns them. But yes, if you work at the tax board, for example, you have access, technically, to the tax file of, let’s say, your old boyfriend’s new girlfriend or vice versa. Some people initially felt the urge to look. But, you know, they very quickly learned that there would be a serious fine for such an action.
Why I am telling you this? Because this is the biggest, most important element of trust between Estonian society and the government. The government has promised that they will not use this data themselves or allow civil servants to use this data for a benefit other than to the citizen – be it for the government, be it just curious – it is not allowed. This is in the law.
There is another corner-point of our digital system, and that is the digital identity. Actually, it’s amazing how few people in today’s world, when we all act and transact online, probably spend 30-50% of our money online, how few people have an access to a government-guaranteed legally accepted and legally protected digital-ID. There should be one for every citizen around the world. In Europe there is. In the European Union there has been a decision – and I believe Estonia has been a catalysing element in this process to achieve it – 20 years after we had our digital-ID, the European Union took a decision that every European citizen, all 400 million of them, has a right to a digital-ID. These IDs had to inter-operate across the European borders because the European Union is a single market. But it took 20 years to achieve this.
And many people, even in the rich world, to this day have to be anonymous online, and have to act and transact using nicknames and passwords. And all these systems created by the private sector, they all lack by definition one important element. This kind of ID which is not government guaranteed, supported and developed, they do not have the legal framework which really makes them safe. Because no technology itself is safe.
There has to be legal space surrounding it which is permissive for technology development. But at the same time which also makes sure that nobody can present themselves as someone they are not. In the Estonian system, if I log on, and buy, let’s say, a pack of solar cells for my own rooftop, and I buy it from an Estonian company who sends me the contract via our e-system, it is encrypted from end to end. That means that no, I am not getting from Google or Amazon endless advertisements to buy more solar cells thereafter. It’s a fully encrypted government protected digital ecosystem.
<blockquote>There has to be legal space surrounding it which is permissive for technology development.</blockquote>
And it has changed our society. It has made our society far more equal because the government is open 24/7, 365 days a year. Women, who have a heavier burden of household work in Estonian society too, can access government services whenever their children are asleep. And this has totally changed our societal culture. When the pandemic started, we were able to see that almost half of the jobs which Estonians do could be done remotely. To be honest, I’ve been saying for more than five years that globally, everywhere, that geography and work are less and less linked. Nobody believed it. But now with the pandemic everybody saw it with their own eyes.
But again, for Estonians it was easier to do because our offices also use our safe digital-ID ecosystem. So, going online did not pose additional risk to the data safety of any enterprise, either public or private. And yes, indeed, private as well. Because, of course, our digital-ID, it’s like a passport – you use it in the private sector and in the public sector. There is no differentiation.
<blockquote>It has made our society far more equal because the government is open 24/7, 365 days a year.</blockquote>
You must not have different systems for private and public spaces if there are digital ID-systems. Why? Because you don’t have two passports for transactions with the government and transactions with the private sector. The digital-ID is simply a modern passport. It is simply something that helps you act and transact online. But it has all the necessary characteristics of a passport. Sometimes people ask, how do you then do things when a hospital has a digital-ID, a police-officer has a digital-ID, a company has a digital-ID? Well, they don’t. The role of management remains exactly as it was in the analogue world. A CEO can represent a company, but they can do it with their digital passport, not only with their analogue passport.
In Estonia, we also use technology which is environmentally friendly. Because our digital infrastructure resembles Bitcoin so much that for years people were asking whether the person who created Bitcoin and blockchain was an Estonian. They were not. KSI, our technology, also gives you a signature, encryption and timestamp, but it is far more environmentally friendly. It uses far less energy, and it is extremely important that while we are going through the green turn that we are also able to digitalize our system in an efficient way. Lots of energy can be saved if you are using the correct tools for the correct operations.
Blockchain is used in the Estonian digital ecosystem, but it is used where you really need it. It is when some service adjusts datasets in different systems and needs to do so in exactly the same second. Then we do use blockchain.
For example, we have a proactive service where Estonians do not have to apply because the government knows they are entitled to this service. It is a top-up to our retired peoples’ pension if they live alone. Well, we live in a cold country, so heating your house is expensive, and therefore we have decided to pay a top-up to the pensions of single pensioners. And they don’t have to apply. They don’t even have to know such a service exists because our datasets will show: they live alone, they are retired. And the top-up automatically arrives into their bank account. You see where you need blockchain in this one. It is an event-based service which involves datasets changing in various datasets at the same time. And this is where the Estonian e-government model is moving. Because people ask: Why do we have to apply for this service? You know I need the service.
Let’s come back to the beginning of a life. A baby is born. We have a universal child support system in Estonia. Now, why should parents go and apply for this child support? The state knows there is a baby. The state knows that the parents have bank accounts because they pay taxes. Therefore, the state can logically just start payments to the parents. The parents do not need to apply; technically, this is not a necessity. And we have now about 80 services in our government portfolio that we call event-based proactive services which will be offered to people without the citizen having to request them.
It is a high-trust element in the system because now you are moving to an area where systems do aggregate data from various parts of the government database and draw conclusions about citizens. But these services are only used to help citizens, and the government has strict regulations and rules in place. For example, if they want to conduct a criminal investigation and follow people, they still need to get a special order. It is not possible to investigate any person through the system. But to support the person, to pay a top-up to pensions, this is possible in Estonia.
<blockquote>The only way citizens trust a digitally transformed society is if they know that they still control their own data.</blockquote>
And these differentiations are extremely, extremely important. Because the only way citizens trust a digitally transformed society is if they know that they still control their own data. And they only allow it to be used to their own benefit. It has to be written in the law. In our case, in this new digital proactive government, we are right now doing work in our ministries and parliament to come to an agreement about how these proactive services can be used as well as at which points people have opt-ins and opt-outs. Because some people may not want even these positive services to be offered to them automatically. And they must therefore have an opportunity to opt out.
Many people in the world have asked me that what the best place to start digitalizing your society is. And many often think it is with digital voting because many often have big diasporas and they want these parts of their society to participate. Well, my suggestion is: never start with a high-trust service. Start with little services which people can use and see they are safe. Registering children for school or kindergarten, applying for social support – these are also good to be done online because then your neighbours do not see that you are applying, and in Estonian society you sometimes don’t want, for example, people to know that you are on social support. So, these kinds of services should always go first.
And I even have a dream. You know, I have been working as a UN global advocate for women and children for half a year now. And I’ve realized that many countries do not have digital population registries. They should have. And they should start by registering online the birth of each and every baby globally.
To end my presentation, I come back to where I started. But it is extremely important that, globally, no birth goes unnoticed. Do you know how many do nowadays? Twenty per cent. I also see in developing countries that there are governments that are interested in digitalizing their public registries. Some have done so. My dream is that every citizen in the world becomes a global digital citizen at the moment when they are born. Then we can offer them vaccinations, food support, education. Then we can be sure that nobody is lost on this planet.
<blockquote>This is my call to all governments globally: please, make it possible that your future generations can be true global digital citizens.</blockquote>
And this is my call to all governments globally: please, make it possible that your future generations can be true global digital citizens. Yes, it offers great economic opportunities. Yes, we can dream of a global services market. People working from Tunisia or from Fiji in Estonian book-keeping, for example, or well, writing code for somebody in Iceland. But we should start from really low ambitions: getting every child globally registered online. Making sure that nobody is lost on this planet.
From Estonia, we have catalysed a lot of global digital governance thinking. We have established the E-governance Academy together with UNDP. I believe we have had a huge influence on European e-governance prowess. But my dream is global. We should all be globally connected, but legally protected, digital citizens for a global society.
Thank you for listening!

Kersti Kaljulaid speaking at Future Investment Initiative stage

President Kaljulaid’s keynote speech at Future Investment Initiative

President Kersti Kaljulaid visited Saudi Arabia in the last week of October, during which she met with the heads of government of the kingdom, assisted in creating opportunities for Estonian companies to make new bilateral business contacts and took to the stage as one the keynote speakers at the prestigious Future Investment Initiative forum.
“There has been a marked rise in interest among Estonian companies in the countries on the Persian Gulf, and a number of sectors see a great deal of potential there,” explained Taavi Linnamäe from the office of President Kaljulaid. “A lot of projects are already underway, but the cultural differences between our countries mean that business diplomacy is also very important. In fact it is often what is needed in order for actual cooperation to be achieved.”
<blockquote>There has been a marked rise in interest among Estonian companies in the countries on the Persian Gulf.</blockquote>
During her time in the country, President Kaljulaid met with the heads of the Saudi government, the ambassador of the European Union to Saudi Arabia and the founders of Neom (the ‘city of the future’) and visited the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. The meetings were primarily designed to foster business diplomacy, create new opportunities for Estonian companies in Saudi Arabia and promote business contacts between the two countries. Coinciding with President Kaljulaid’s visit to the kingdom, Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology Andres Sutt was in the Saudi capital Riyadh with a business delegation of Estonian companies.
President Kaljulaid was also one of the keynote speakers at the Future Investment Initiative forum being held in the Saudi capital, her address focussing on the ways in which technology is transforming our societies. The former head of state also contributed to a discussion on the changing economy and the work of the future.
Estonia and Saudi Arabia entered into diplomatic relations in 2003. Estonia’s first ambassador to the kingdom, Jaan Reinhold, presented his credentials in Riyadh in March this year.

President Kaljulaid esineb Future Investment Initiative foorumil Saudi Araabias

President Kaljulaid makes first visit to Saudi Arabia

This week saw President Kersti Kaljulaid take her place on the supervisory board of the Yalta European Strategy (YES), Ukraine’s most important foreign-policy platform. Her aim in joining the board is to keep democratic nations and the public focussed on developments in the country.
<blockquote>Democratic and prosperous Ukraine that is corruption-free, follows the rule of law and has an honest business environment is in the interests of Europe.</blockquote>
“How things are progressing in Ukraine has always been important to me,” President Kaljulaid said. “The war that is being fought in the country is not just Ukraine’s war, but a matter for Europe and the democratic world as a whole. We must stand together in the name of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and never accept changes to European borders enacted through military force. We must keep this matter in the public eye; we must not allow it to be forgotten. Ukraine is at war and needs Europe’s support, the same way that a democratic and prosperous Ukraine that is corruption-free, follows the rule of law and has an honest business environment is in the interests of Europe. I championed this during my time as president and I consider it no less important today.”
President Kaljulaid officially joined YES on 1 November and will serve on its supervisory board for the next three years. The board is chaired by former President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski. Its other members are former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference Wolfgang Ischinger, former Secretary General of NATO and Prime Minister of Denmark Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Vice President of the Havas Group Stephane Fouks and EastOne Group founder Victor Pinchuk.
YES was established in 2004 and initially convened in Yalta on the Crimean peninsula. In recent years, the forum – which has transformed into the platform’s annual submit – has taken place in Kyiv. It is one of the biggest political conferences in Eastern Europe, involving a range of debates throughout the year in addition to the main event.

Kersti Kaljulaid pidamas kõnet YES foorumil Kiievis

Global Advocate of EWEC Kersti Kaljulaid addresses the global community in the beginning of 2022

Kersti Kaljulaid: Let’s complete the green transition and end the reign of the virus and segregation in the school system

President Kersti Kaljulaid wins Estonian Public Relations Association’s Annual award

President Kaljulaid’s keynote speech at Future Investment Initiative

President Kaljulaid makes first visit to Saudi Arabia

President Kaljulaid appointed board member of leading Ukrainian foreign-policy forum

Follow:

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Contact:

info@kerstikaljulaid.ee

+372 5629 2299

press@kerstikaljulaid.ee