Stenbock House, 4 September 2023 – Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas will host two high-level international events in Estonia this week: the Tallinn Digital Summit in the Creative Hub on 5 September and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit at the Telliskivi Creative City on 6–7 September.
According to a statement released by the Prime Minister´s office, and sent to ChatNews TV, both events will bring together heads of state and government, civil society organizations and policy makers, entrepreneurs and representatives of the technology community from more than 80 countries.
“This year, the Tallinn Digital Summit will focus more broadly on how technology can support democracies. This time, among other things, we will focus on learning from the Ukrainian experience and on how to effectively deliver digital services to citizens in times of crisis,” said Kallas.
The Open Government Partnership is an international initiative to promote good governance worldwide. In the crises we have faced with increasing frequency in recent years, the need to strengthen the foundations of a democratic state and a strong, open civil society has become particularly prominent. “We need a strong civil society to overcome unexpected events and obstacles. It is too late to establish dialogue and cooperation when the crisis is already upon us. On the contrary – it must be part of our crisis plan. The transparent e-governance of Estonia and its close cooperation with the non-governmental sector is a shining example to the world. We have a lot of valuable experience to pass on,” said Kallas.
On Tuesday, 5 September, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas will take part in the opening ceremony of the Digital Summit, where she will give an opening speech at 9.05 a.m. A live broadcast of the opening of the Digital Summit and the entirety of the following day will be available at https://www.digitalsummit.ee/.
Prime Minister Kallas will also hold a series of bilateral meetings in parallel with the Digital Summit. In the Creative Hub, she will meet José Ulisses de Pina Correia e Silva, Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Ivan John Uy, Secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology of the Philippines, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, and Alex Karp, co-founder of the technology company Palantir. In the afternoon, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas will meet Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovačevski at Stenbock House. In the evening, the Prime Minister will host a formal dinner for the guests of the Digital Summit and the OGP Summit.
On Wednesday, 6 September, Prime Minister Kallas will open the OGP Summit in Telliskivi Creative City and participate in the opening plenary. You can watch the keynote speeches and the opening plenary starting at 8.45 a.m. on the YouTube channel of the Open Government Partnership at https://www.youtube.com/@OpenGovPart.
Prime Minister Kallas is also scheduled to meet Albin Kurti, Prime Minister of Kosovo, and Ahmed Afif, Vice President of Seychelles, at the Telliskivi Creative City.
On Thursday, 7 September, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas will take part in the closing plenary of the summit at the Telliskivi Creative City together with Samantha Power, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa. The discussion, starting at 4.30 p.m., can be watched on the YouTube channel of the Open Government Partnership at https://www.youtube.com/@OpenGovPart.
The Prime Minister is also scheduled to meet with Samantha Power, Administrator of USAID, and Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnership, at the Telliskivi Creative City.
The Tallinn Digital Summit is an annual high-level summit focusing on the digital transformation in partnership with the private sector, focusing on the most relevant issues of the moment.
While, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit brings together heads of state and government, civil society organisations, and policy makers from around the world. The eighth edition of the summit will welcome more than 2,000 delegates to Tallinn and will feature nearly 50 debates on eight different stages. The event will focus on anti-corruption, civil society and participation, climate, digital technologies, justice, and crisis preparedness. The summit will take place within the framework of the Estonian co-chairmanship of the Open Government Partnership, which Estonia took over in October 2022.
