Jakarta. Estonia, a country that has made nearly all its public services online, intends to partner with Indonesia on digital transformation, according to its chief diplomat Margus Tsahkna.

Indonesia has been trying to carry out digital transformation across its public services as means to cut bureaucratic red tapes and boost transparency. During his two-day Jakarta trip, Tsahkna revealed Tallinn was aware of this plan, and was open to helping Indonesia on its digital journey. In an exclusive interview with B-Universe Media Holdings, Tsahkna said Estonia had gained the reputation as the “world’s most digitalized country”.

“The internet and Wi-Fi are human rights in Estonia. We literally run our public and private services online. We have had e-elections for over 20 years, and are now introducing mobile [voting] for local elections this year,” Tsahkna said. 

“We would like to have a more strategic partnership on digitalization. ... It's something that we can offer. ... Digitalization is about offering people the opportunity to enjoy life without any complexity of bureaucracy,” the Estonian foreign affairs minister said.

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Tsahkna later met his Indonesian counterpart Sugiono on Wednesday with the bilateral talks emphasizing digital cooperation. 

Speaking at the joint news conference, Tsahkna said President Prabowo Subianto had a “very ambitious plan” about Indonesia’s digital transformation, saying that such measures could boost government’s efficiency and lead to the betterment of people’s lives. He revealed both governments would ink a memorandum of understanding (MoU) related to digital transformation soon. 

“We talked about the possibility of engaging Estonia’s digital talents to take part in e-governance, and create a more efficient process in government bureaucracy,” Sugiono said.

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