In her UN General Assembly speech President Kaljulaid focused on the advantages of digital technologies, using Estonia as an example as the world’s first digitally transformed state, where all public services run online. „In a way the pandemic and its aftermath gives us an opportunity for a great global technological leap. Digital solutions can make our societies more equal, more resilient, more accessible and sustainable and allow us to fight the climate change, “President of Estonia said.
According to President Kaljulaid in Estonia the disruption by pandemic was limited to upscaling e-education and distant working, because compared to other countries it was easier for Estonia to move everything online. „We want the same for the rest of the world. We want equal opportunities for people globally to work from distance wherever they are. We want equal opportunities for people with special needs and homebound women to be able to work through digital means, intermittently as their schedule allows. We want global free labour market, which does not necessitate people to migrate, but stay where they want, “the Estonian Head of State added.
President Kaljulaid stated that digital services do not by themselves rid any country from fat bureaucracy, corruption or inefficiency. „By digitalising these problems we can only make things worse, unless we simultaneously rise transparency and straighten out our processes. Thus digitalisation can make our states more efficient and bring closer to our people, “she added.
The Estonian Head of State stressed that as we tackle the global pandemic, conventional and unconventional threats have not disappeared, for example the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Syria, the conflict in Sahel and the recent devastating disaster in Lebanon, but also the grave human rights violations in Belarus. „Overall, the pandemic has even reinforced some of the consequences of conflicts, for example the health and well-being of the most vulnerable – the children, women and adolescents. The pandemic has been used as a pretext to lift sanctions or restrict humanitarian aid. New divisions have emerged. This, my friends, is unacceptable, “President Kaljulaid stated.
This year the UN General Assembly is virtual and all state speeches were requested as prerecorded videos. The full speech of President Kaljulaid can be found here: https://www.president.ee/en/official-duties/speeches/16181-at-the-75th-united-nations-general-assembly/
President Kaljulaid’s video address can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3bxI5HllWs&t=44s
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