Considering the current rapidly changing situation, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to assist the Estonian entrepreneurs by initiating an information harvesting aimed at pinpointing which services and products could be sold or realised and in which target markets in the current crisis situation.
„Estonia is prepared to actively work under the current new situation and is actively looking into ways of helping our businesses to cope “, Andres Rundu, Undersecretary for the Economic and Development Affairs of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. „Necessity is the best innovator there is! The majority of business is currently reviewing their operations in some way in order to respond to the crisis situation at hand. In this way, we are harvesting for relevant and topical information for the Estonian representations/diplomatic missions abroad,” the Undersecretary said.
As the initial step, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requests the businesses to inform the Ministry which type of assistance is required most urgently.
A simple online questionnaire can be found at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfPjh_Z6Ie-LCUhSfdkugDFtLUOw1P5M8cc9fPOazHENf8xvg/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1
Margus Tsahkna, representative of Semetron, a company which is active in the field of medical devices, said: „The harvest for ideas initiated by the Estonian Foreign Ministry is a welcome step. Every crisis lends an opportunity as well and today, Estonian businesses need to find solutions as to how to export their goods and services into other countries. The Estonian Foreign Ministry has done a great job in this area at this time. Business diplomacy can be instrumental in helping Estonian entrepreneurs. At times, there are issues, where only the state can pitch in and help, Tsahkna said.
„The information we gather is a tool for our network of the Estonian diplomatic representations abroad and Estonian honorary consuls, and we will share it with the representatives of Enterprise Estonia abroad, “ Rundu added.
As part of harvesting for ideas, there will be organised a live video broadcast on 20 March from 10.00 to 11.30 (Estonian local time) on the Facebook page of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs where the urgent and topical questions from entrepreneurs will be answered.
The link to the live broadcast: https://www.facebook.com/57904691979/posts/10159435100766980/
Additional information:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia
Communication Department
[email protected]