The speech of Minister of the Interior Ken-Marti Vaher on the reception of Ambassador of the United States (November 1st 2011)

Honoured Ambassador, representatives of Raytheon, and guests,

The reason for our gathering today is a good example of cooperation between the public and the private sectors – and international cooperation at that. Ensuring the security of people is a complex job of particular responsibility and we all have to work together here.

Combating organised crime is currently in our special focus. This pilot project uses modern technological solutions to strengthen the Estonian external border. And through strengthening the Estonian external border, we contribute to ensuring the security of the European Union as a whole.
By offering state institutions IT solutions, which help combat that challenge of internal security, you will also contribute to a more secure society.

As Estonians, we are proud of our innovativeness in using information technology – proud of the large number of electronic solutions we have managed to implement in order to simplify work processes and ensure convenience. Smart solutions attract us.

The task of IT is, above all, to make work processes simpler and faster and that is exactly what this project will help achieve. This pilot project will speed up our current time-consuming work processes and increase our analysis capability. All of it has a higher objective, which in the end touches every person living in Estonia and in Europe – a secure and safe living environment.

The experience you are offering is very valuable for Estonia. On the basis of the obtained experience, we shall prepare our national legislation and work organisation for the adoption of the European Union PNR Directive as well as for the more efficient implementation of the directive concerning the use of API data.

We thank you for your interest in cooperating namely with Estonia.

On 1 November, the US ambassador to Estonia Michael C. Polt organized a reception to celebrate cooperation between the US company Raytheon and Estonian authorities.