As the president of Estonia, I represent the only truly digital society which actually has a state; almost all our citizens' interactions with the government, including voting, can be done securely online, and our 'e-residents' can incorporate and run their businesses in Estonia without ever having to set foot here.
Kersti Kaljulaid
Industrial jobs are disappearing, and they will continue to disappear owing to productivity gains from automation. Thus, social models that were created to fit industrial and early service economies will no longer be viable. As the industrial workforce shrinks, the social model founded on it will go, too.
We've had Vice President Pence visiting Tallinn, where he met not only with me but also with my other Baltic colleagues - Lithuanian President Ms. Grybauskaite and Latvian President Mr. Vejonis. And, of course, Vice President Pence has been very clear that NATO acts as a whole. Attack against one is attack against all.
Every state aspiring to be part of the free world, able to decide its own destiny, deserves its chance. They may, in a not too distant future, contribute to all of us in ways we cannot imagine today.
There are high hopes of France and what they're trying to achieve there by liberalising the labour market and other reforms. You lose some, you gain some.
Cyber attacks rain down on us from many places. You have to make your systems secure and safe and teach your people cyber hygiene.
The E.U. is a common platform where we come together and agree to do certain things. But the E.U. is never going to take over the responsibility which governments have for prosperity and security of their people.
The U.S., together with trans-Atlantic allies, never recognized the occupation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union. Moscow faced pressure or retaliation every time it tried to move toward official recognition, or at least acceptance, of its claim that the Baltic states were Soviet republics.
Small nations have no time for small goals - they have to think big in order to become contributors.
From kindergarten, I knew that politics is something that you talk about only at home, because if you weren't quiet, your parents might be taken to prison. All Estonian families have these kind of stories.
Everybody has the right to decide their own fate.
NATO's deterrence has always been adequate, and I'm not worried about the physical security of my country. Not at all.
Too many people in the world associate democracy with their ability to go and buy more and more every year. I come from a country where it's much more popular to remind people that democracy is available at every income level, and this is something which you need to protect.
My mother was a doctor, and I grew up with her in a little apartment belonging to my grandmother, because the Soviet Union never saw fit to let our family have its own apartment.
In Estonia, the Russian minority can move freely, travel freely, work anywhere in Europe.
People everywhere in the world have Russian connections. There is nothing wrong with having Russian connections as long as you're transparent about it.
I don't believe Russia would attack a NATO country or NATO as such, no matter which country we are talking about.
It is interesting that cyberwarfare is developing into something conventional and attacking objects, infrastructure, and critical services.
I don't know of any problems countries in Europe are facing - environment, infrastructure, markets, market development, the fifth freedom being digital freedom, border security, terrorism, migration - that can be better solved alone.
Digital society is born when your people refuse to use paper. And in our country, we know that our people refuse to use paper. If you arrive at such a point in your development, you have to make your digital state always secure.
Estonians are much more used to Internet banking rather than an online credit card.
Our people are willing to work with the government on new technologies. Now, it's a habit; every Estonian looks at it as part of our national identity. We understand that this allows us to provide better services to our people than our money would allow.
In 2008, when Russia attacked Georgia, Western countries took it as an isolated incident, but probably this was the start of the push against our underlying international security architecture. And this push then started a landslide which in 2014 resulted in Crimean occupation.
We have every reason to put our trust in NATO and in transatlantic cooperation.
If we look decades ago, we know that NATO allies contributed a lot of equipment close to the border of the Soviet Union.
I don't want to sound like I'm a special type of Russia hater. There are very few heads of state in Europe that would not like to have very good relations with Russia.
Most new jobs created by global digital opportunities make people more independent. Fewer people will work for one company at a time or in the same country all the time. More will work remotely across borders.
Traditionally, nations have harnessed taxpayers to their territory by making almost all social guarantees dependent on working in one country, every day, every month, and for at least three decades. In creating free movement of people, this web has only got more complex but never disappeared.
We want to be sure that both NATO's territory and NATO soldiers are well protected. We need to make sure that there is the air defense and the air support for these forces in case that is necessary.
Sometimes I hear, particularly from Russia, that we simply hate Russia and don't like to co-operate, that we are hysterical about the risks. But this is totally untrue. We would greatly benefit economically if our neighbour was a democratic, developing country.
Estonia maintains a two-language school system. I don't know many countries in the world that provide a system like ours. We are making sure that our Russian-speaking minority feels comfortable and involved in this country.
Governments don't want to be the last ones in the digital sphere if their people and businesses are already there. We have to make clear that the free movement of services in the E.U. also applies in the digital sphere. The shortcut is to create a digital union.
The problem is if Russia is organising exercises - and not being transparent about what exactly these exercises are about - it creates suspicions as to their objectives.
Not everything is so bad... Whichever way you look at it, we feel that we can face the future when the liberal, democracy-based world sticks together. We have great trust that it will.
Globally, we need to make sure that markets are open... If we see that there are restrictions on free trade, then simple economic logic will demonstrate that this is not beneficial.
In Estonia, our greatest national treasure is our egalitarian educational system.
Our main concern will always be security.
The E.U. is very popular in Estonia, and for very good reasons - not because Estonia has received considerable support from the E.U., but because Europe supports the values which keep small states safe in this world.
I am very worried about politicians who know that their countries are greatly benefiting financially and at the same time are saying that the European Union is not good for us. The message has to be coherent.
We are past the stage in our relations that you come to Washington with an empty goody bag and then you go back with a bag filled with stuff.
The E.U. is more resilient than we give it credit for. We always muddle through.
Estonia is proud of the fact that the country today has a flourishing and happy Jewish life.
I must recall with gratitude those 178 Jewish women and men who participated in the Estonian War of Independence. Both of our nations know what it means to keep your identity and freedom even under the pressure of foreign powers, and we can be proud of their achievements.
