Marcos holds bilateral meeting with Estonia PM in Brussels

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday held a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas of Estonia in Brussels, according to Radio TV Malacañang (RTVM).

In a statement, the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) said Marcos and Kallas agreed to strengthen Manila and Tallinn’s cooperation in digitalization and e-governance during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-European Union (ASEAN-EU) Commemorative Summit in Brussels, Belgium.

Marcos sought Estonia’s assistance in the Philippines’ digital transformation, saying that the challenges of exposure to cyberattacks.

“Estonia seemed to have managed the technologies so well that you’re able to resist that,” Marcos said.

“We are presently in the midst of our digitalization of government…. both the national and the local levels. Furthermore, since we are digitalizing and digitizing, the issues of cybersecurity has come up, and we know the reputation of Estonia in terms of being able to resist the attacks that had been made to digital systems in the recent past up to the present,” he added.

Kallas, on the other hand, invited Marcos in Estonia to learn more about the key strategies of the European country in digitizing government processes and addressing cyberattacks.

“Cyberattacks and everything is connected… we have invested a lot in cybersecurity, of course, but usually when I show our system in a very simple way… 99 percent of our e-governance services or actually all the public services are digital,” Kallas said.

“You don’t have like one big database. But you have very many small ones that are connected to each other. So if one of these is cyberattacked, it goes out, but all the others stay,” she added.

Marcos, in the Belgian capital to attend the ASEAN-EU Summit, pushed through with the meeting after missing an event with members of the Philippine media due to a cold.

Marcos in his closing remarks at the ASEAN-EU Business Summit on Tuesday night apologized for his voice, citing the cold weather in Brussels.

During the briefing held by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on December 9, the discussion between the two leaders focused on cyber security cooperation and the pending extradition treaty between the Philippines and Estonia.

The President is also set to hold bilateral meetings with leaders from the Czech Republic, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands, and the European Union. — Richa Noriega/BM/RSJ, GMA Integrated News