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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
