Estonia to Host Myanmar Officials and Tech Entrepreneurs on Visit to Promote Open, Transparent Government

During the five day visit in Tallinn, the Myanmar delegation, led by Minister Tin Naing Thein of the President's office, will learn about Estonia's e-solutions including the digital signature, paperless meeting system, digital registers, as well as important issues around cyber security.

"No society will open up alone overnight. We have the great opportunity to be an example for Myanmar, to show our own development and lessons learned and to encourage Myanmar to tackle thorough reforms to make their country democratic and open," said Mall Hellam, the head of Open Estonia Foundation.

The delegation will also learn about open government partnerships and examples will be presented of how e-solutions can help to make a state more transparent and closer to the citizen - be it Valitsemise valvurid (Guards of Governing), meieraha.eu or Valijakompass (voter's compass). 

The Myanmar government and IT sector representatives met earlier this year for the first time when members of Estonia's e-Government Academy worked in Myanmar. Estonia's e-solutions initially caught the attention of Myanmar officials a few years ago when the government began researching electronic personal identification systems and mobile IDs.

"Even then we understood that the Myanmar authorities, while opening up the state more than ever, were very interested in modernizing the government, reducing bureaucracy, and making services more accessible to the citizens," said Hannes Astok, a board member of e-Government Academy.

On this visit, experts from Estonia's e-Government Academy, the IT College and the registers, information systems centre, and certification centre will present Estonia's e-story. The Myanmar delegation will also meet Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Paet, the foreign affairs committee of Estonian Parliament, the director of President's office Siim Raie, and representatives of the civil society.

The visit to Tallinn is part of a two-week study and working trip by the Myanmar delegation to Europe. The group from Myanmar will also visit Brussels, London, and Budapest to meet with Transparency International and other international organizations, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and other financial institutions, heads of states, entrepreneurs, and political and social scientists.

The delegation from Myanmar was invited to visit Estonia by the Estonian e-Governance Academy and the Open Estonia Foundation.

Additional information:

Hannes Astok
e-Governance Academy
hannes@astok.ee

Mall Hellam
Open Estonia Foundation
mall@oef.org.ee