Estonian official lauds potential for business with China

A huge potential for cooperation between China and Estonia remains to be tapped in IT, agriculture and infrastructure, Estonia's top trade official said on June 10.

Anne Sulling, Estonian minister of economic affairs and communication, is leading a business delegation of 12 Estonian companies to China for the Ministerial Meeting on Economic and Trade Promotion between China and Central & Eastern European Countries.

The meeting, held in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, on June 8, attracted 180 enterprises from 16 CEE countries, with products such as milk, honey and cosmetics.

"The exchange of information and contact is good for trade promotion, as every country presented its strength and met its Chinese counterpart through matchmaking events," Sulling said.

She identified IT solutions and agriculture as major competitive fields that call for greater cooperation between China and Estonia.

"Estonia has the most digitized e-government solutions in the world. For example, 95 percent of our taxes are filed on the Internet. We have e-medicine, e-schools and e-police," Sulling said. "They make interaction with the government very efficient and transparent at the same time."

Currently, the Chinese have shown an interest in services such as mobile payments and e-parking, she said.

In February, a BBC article called Estonia as the next Silicon Valley. Sulling said the country spends 2 percent of its GDP on renovation and development every year in this area.

Sulling said Estonia sees a lot of opportunities for its "very pure and organic" agricultural products to China as Estonia has the world's cleanest air and uses little fertilizer in the production process.

"Organic products such as honey, blueberry, fish, diary and poultry are currently waiting for authorization to enter the Chinese market," she said.

Last year, Estonia's exports to China reached $99 million, while it imported $459 million worth of products from China, according to Estonia's statistic.