NordenBladet — Today, a seminar on Asia was held in the Conference Hall of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) on the initiative of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu. The main topic of the seminar was the importance of Asia for Estonia, considering the increasing impact of the Asian region in the economic, trade as well as geopolitical perspective.

In his opening address, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu Enn Eesmaa highlighted the idea of the Asian Centre at the University of Tartu and the proposal of the Foreign Affairs Committee to create an Asian strategy until 2035 for Estonia.

“Estonia needs a strategy that would take into account the interests of as many social groups as possible,” he said. “We need to have clearer principles for long-term communication with the Asian countries in education, research, economy, culture and in many other fields. The Foreign Affairs Committee will continue its work through parliamentary hearings, seeking new opportunities and searching for fresh solutions,” Eesmaa said.

Deputy Chairman of the Committee Marko Mihkelson pointed out that the Foreign Affairs Committee had been dealing with Asia as an important region in several compositions of the Riigikogu. He recalled the report “The Opportunities and Interests of Estonia in Asia until 2025”, which had been prepared in 2012 on the basis of the hearings in the Committee. “Eight years ago we were not able to foresee how fast the impact of Asia in the context of global economy, politics and security would enter our daily life. The influence of China and other Asian countries in the coming years and decades may be much more defining that we can estimate today,” he said.

Rector of the Estonian Business School (EBS) and former Head of Research of the Foresight Centre Meelis Kitsing spoke about the meaning of the scenarios on global lines of power to the relations between the European Union and Asia. Using the global lines of power scenarios prepared by the Foresight Centre, Kitsing described four alternatives for Europe until 2035. In his opinion, the key factors of the scenarios are the cooperation of the EU member states and their ability to develop an infrastructure that would have an increasing role of a geopolitical instrument.

Member of Asia Update Organising Team Liisi Karindi presented a summary of Estonia’s risks and opportunities within the context of emerging Asia. Karindi drew attention to the fact that we could not ignore the growing importance of Asia in global economy and in politics, education, security and other spheres. She emphasised that, for its sustainable and successful development in the context of the growing importance of Asia, Estonia needed to expand its knowledge and formulate its ambitions.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rainer Saks discussed the approach of gathering the topics that are important for society into a uniform Asian strategy. According to him, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of how to define the region we term as Asia in the strategy. Saks also said that several different social groups, including the economic and academic community, must definitely be involved in the public debate on the Asian strategy.

Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu and representatives of the University of Tartu, the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute, the Government Office, Tallinn University, Enterprise Estonia, Tallinn University of Technology and ministries participated in the seminar.

NordenBladet — Põlluaas spoke about the adoption of the first Constitution of the Republic of Estonia one hundred years ago, and the challenges faced by democratic countries, the foreign and security policy and the activities of the Riigikogu in connection with the corona crisis.

Põlluaas pointed out that the COVID-19 situation was not likely to end in the nearest future, and its course was unpredictable. “Therefore we need to do everything to minimise risks to human life and health, and to ensure the functioning and recovery of society and economy. For that, we have adopted a number of important measures that have justified themselves, but we cannot sit back,” Põlluaas said. “As we have seen in the case of COVID-19, it is often vitally important to include urgent issues in the agenda at once and to solve them. However, things must not be over-dramatised. A balanced approach is needed,” the President of the Riigikogu emphasised.

Põlluaas underlined that we were global pioneers in providing digital services, but we needed a fundamental and comprehensive discussion on the relations between technology and politics, as well as technology and the parliament.

“This spring, we amended the Riigikogu Rules of Procedure and Internal Rules Act so that in a crisis situation, where the parliament cannot convene physically, it would be possible to hold plenary sittings electronically. We have been developing a relevant platform for the whole summer and it is already in the testing stage. Only a few parliaments in the world have such a possibility of electronic sittings, and I dare affirm that ours is a cut above all of them. In the near future we will all have a chance to test it,” Põlluaas said.

Speaking of the tasks faced by the Members of the Riigikogu, Põlluaas noted: “Although we may have different approaches to problems, we definitely share the common opinion that the state must always try to improve the life of the people of Estonia. If we have good will and sufficient readiness to cooperate, we can do it.”

Kaljulaid spoke about Estonia’s long-term development issues, development of economy, personal freedoms and universal rights, problems relating to the administrative reform, strengthening the role of local governments and resolving the challenges faced by the Riigikogu.

Kaljulaid said, “These long-term developmental risks must be mitigated with smart leadership. That work can be done in this very hall.”

“And then, we have the pandemic. Fighting the virus means that our ordinary rights may be restricted in the name of a certain greater societal benefit – preventing fatalities. But these restrictions must be proportional and applied uniformly,” the President of the Republic said.

“I would be proud of the Riigikogu if this year’s debates were to show our people that you truly care about their rights, freedoms, future, and also their wish to make local communities the kind of Estonia that the people who live there themselves desire,” Kaljulaid emphasised.

“I would be proud of the Riigikogu if, in this season, parallel to the heated debate over freedoms and interpretation of the Constitution, you were to finally begin drafting laws that will give us a green Estonia, a monolingual school system, and legislation that is as permissive as possible in regard to new technologies founded on data use,” the President added.

“Let’s make it so that the rest of the world isn’t a step ahead of us, but vice-versa,” Kaljulaid said. The President of the Republic wished the Riigikogu all the strength.

The songs performed by the chamber choir Collegium Musicale, conducted by Endrik Üksvärav, created a festive atmosphere at the opening sitting.

Text of the speech by the President of the Riigikogu Henn Põlluaas:

During the open microphone, Kalle Grünthal, Peeter Ernits and Urmas Espenberg took the floor.

NordenBladet — From today, the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) is using a new system for preparing of verbatim reports of the sittings. The system is called Hans and it was developed by the Estonian IT company Finestmedia. The system is using the speech recognition technology created in Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech).

Administrative Director of the Chancellery of the Riigikogu Ahto Saks said that the new system performed the time-consuming work of stenographers. “The system records the debates taking place in the Riigikogu Session Hall as sound files, and the speech recognition writes it down. After that, editors come to help Hans and revise the text, and then it is published on the Riigikogu website,” Saks described the workflow.

Saks explained that it had taken two years from the idea to the introduction of the system, but it was not completely ready yet, and the development and improvements continued. “First, Hans will make the verbatim records of the Riigikogu sittings and Question Times. It is planned to use the system also in the work of the committees in the future,” Saks added.

Finestmedia’s Head of Division Lauri Esko said that creation of the verbatim reports system had been an exciting challenge for their company. The technological solutions provided by different parties could be inventively integrated to see how the synergy emerging from it brought about a major development.

“We created a solution that has a much wider potential than its today’s use,” Esko pointed out. “The systems containing speech recognition can be an efficient tool in the work of courts, prisons and the police, but also in health care, research and journalism, where writing down or making a detailed report of a conversation is necessary.” Esko added that the solution also had a great export potential. “We have already introduced Hans to delegations from several countries who wish to start writing the success story of their e-governance with its help,” he said.

Head of the Laboratory of Language Technology of Tallinn University of Technology Tanel Alumäe believes the new system shows how modern technology helps make routine work more effective.

“We have been actively working on speech recognition for 15 years, and today Estonian speech recognition is used by radiologists, researchers and journalists. Web-based speech recognition is freely available to everyone through ‘tekstiks.ee’ environment,” the researcher said. “In spite of the smallness of the Estonian language, the Estonian language technology is on a relatively high level.” Globally, speech recognition is widely used with larger languages.

NordenBladet — The President of the Riigikogu Henn Põlluaas made a statement on the 26th anniversary of the withdrawal of the Russian troops, saying that for Estonia this also meant the termination of World War II and the end of the more than 50-year presence of occupation forces.

“Today we have reason to be happy and celebrate the withdrawal of the Russian troops from Estonia. However, having learned from history, which the Kremlin is trying to rewrite, and considering the reality of today and the intense international situation, we must be in heightened readiness to defend our freedom and independence unconditionally,” Põlluaas said. “We are a member of the NATO, we are no longer alone like we were when the Soviet occupation forces marched into Estonia. Estonia will never again surrender.”

The President of the Riigikogu added that thanks to Estonia’s determination, Russia’s economic collapse, and a strong pressure from the West, particularly USA and several international organisations, the troops had been finally withdrawn. By that time, Russian troops had already been withdrawn from Eastern Europe; Estonia was the last of the Baltic states to see the troops leave.

The President of the Riigikogu has seen no change in the geopolitical ambitions of the Kremlin, or in its relations with neighbouring countries. “They have publicly declared their intention to restore the Soviet Union era empire and spheres of influence. All this is clear from the military aggressions in Georgia and Ukraine, the occupation and annexation of Crimea, and the military bases in several former Soviet republics or countries of the so-called socialist block. And of course from interfering in domestic matters of other countries,” Põlluaas said.

The last Russian units left Estonia on 31 August 1994. This completed the process of the restoration of the independence of the Republic of Estonia. This meant that the occupation, which had started in June 1940, was finally over.

NordenBladet — At the extraordinary sitting today, the Riigikogu passed the Statement of the Riigikogu “In Support of Democracy and Civil Society in Belarus”, submitted by 88 members of the Riigikogu.

Full text of the statement:

“The Riigikogu expresses its support to the people of Belarus in their fight for a free, democratic, and dignified future.

The Riigikogu promotes democracy, human rights and free elections in Belarus, applauds the courage of the people of Belarus to take a stand to defend their inalienable human and citizens’ rights, and expresses the solidarity of the people of Estonia with the people of Belarus.

The Riigikogu does not recognise the results of the 9 August 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, because these were not free, fair, or democratic.

The Riigikogu condemns any use of force against peaceful demonstrators, and calls on the authorities of Belarus to immediately free all the individuals arrested for political reasons.

The Riigikogu calls for the organisation of free, fair, and democratic elections at the earliest opportunity, under the supervision of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and other international organisations.

The Riigikogu urges the UN Member States and their parliaments to support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Belarus and to condemn any attempts to interfere with the right of the people of Belarus to free and democratic elections.

The Riigikogu refers to its Statement of 21 February 2006, which expresses concern for the situation in Belarus and calls attention to the fact that the long-term violation of human rights and freedoms has led the Belarus society into an impasse that can only be escaped by taking guidance from the clear will of the people.

The Riigikogu welcomes the common position of the European Union leaders, stressing the need for the European Union and its Member States to complement the sanctions with the development of a policy of long-term support for the civil society in Belarus.

The Riigikogu encourages the Government of the Republic to continue active international cooperation on all levels, and to support democracy, civil society, and free press in Belarus.”

During the debate, Anneli Ott (Centre Party), Anti Poolamets (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Raimond Kaljulaid (unaffiliated MP), Keit Pentus-Rosimannus (Reform Party), Mihhail Lotman (Isamaa), Aadu Must (Centre Party), and Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Reinsalu took the floor.

92 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the Statement (223 AE).