“Estonia has long and stable business ties with the Nordic, we share common values. This is difficult to underestimate. I hope that this experience shows that Estonia is a place to invest in with ease of mind.,” Ratas said. “Our economy, our GDP is growing for the ninth year in a row.”
“Our most valuable resource is well-educated and smart people,” the Prime Minister added, at the same time stressing the need for investors to think about implementing business models that extensively utilise technology.
Norway is an important export destination for Estonia (11th to 12th by volume among export partners), with Estonia’s exports exceeding imports. Norwegian investments in Estonia include mainly technical and scientific activities, retail and whole sale and real estate.
Earlier yesterday, Ratas attended the Northern Future Forum, focusing on the future of healthcare. He introduced Estonia’s potential in using artificial intelligence solutions (referred to by the Prime Minister as ‘kratts’ or mythological creatures in Estonian folklore, who steal various things for their masters) for personalised medicine.
“Kratt’s help on individual diagnoses will hopefully help people get to doctors’ appointments faster and avoid unnecessary visits altogether. Financing a health care system based on individual needs will help to develop the system accordingly. When processing health data, we must, of course, always protect privacy and people must be in control of their own data,” Ratas said.
The Northern Future Forum was initiated by the United Kingdom in 2011. Its objective is to provide the leaders of the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, and the United Kingdom a chance to discuss their future visions in a less official manner and include specialists of respective fields. This year’s meeting focused on the subjects of health technology: making health care services more available with technology, avoid unnecessary appointments, use enchance public procurements to encourage innovation and develop technology based on individual needs.
Prime Minister Ratas was accompanied by specialists Tõnu Esko from the Estonian Genome Centre, Priit Kruus from Dermtest, and Priit Tohver from the Ministry of Social Affairs.
