Estonia: As per the vision of 16th Kashag in transforming the system of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) into Digitisation, 10 CTA staff visited Estonia (Europe) to study e-Governance and digitisation organised by e-Governance Academy (eGA). The staff were received by eGA Programme Director Annela Kiirats. 

The first day was kicked off with the welcoming note and overview of Estonia’s e-Governance by Arvo Ott, Member of Management Board, eGA followed by an explanation of week’s activity details by Priit Vinkel, Expert of Smart Government, eGA. The teams were also briefed about e-Governance academy activities by Annela Kirats, Programme Director of eGA. 

The delegation team also visited Estonia Parliament and met with Yoko Alender, MP of Estonian Parliament and Chairman of Estonia’s Tibet Support Group and Annely Akkermann, MP of Estonian Parliament. Yoko briefed about the introduction of the Estonian E-parliament and the challenges faced in each stage of governance. She also answered all the queries raised by the teams on governance and digital transformation. Later, Karl-Morten Koppel, Director of Information system of Estonian Parliament made a slide presentation on how Estonian manages to hold E-parliament, how the parliament decisions were made and how resolutions were passed in the parliament electronically.

The delegation team also visited Estonian Prime Minister’s Office to understand the solution that supports the paperless decision-making by e-cabinet. Kateriin Pajumagi, communication Director, Government Office made a presentation on how Estonian Prime Minister holds E-cabinet meetings, and how the E-cabinet decisions were made electronically. She also explained about the transformation stages of traditional cabinet meetings into the digitally based cabinet meetings. 

E-Governance Academy (eGA) is a non-profit foundation and a joint initiative of the Government of Estonia, Open Society Institute  (OSI) and the United Nations Development Programme. It was founded in the year 2002. eGA assists public sector and civil society organisations in making digital transformation happen. eGA provides consultancy, training, networking, research and assisting the organisation in the implementation of e-Government technical solutions.

-Report filed by Department of Finance-