\u201cNow I am going to say something many people may disagree with, but Estonia\u2019s economy has done very well,\u201d former Minister of Energy and the Environment Andres Sutt said at TalTech\u2019s Entrepreneurship Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":26365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[250],"tags":[924,458,265,397],"class_list":["post-26625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-entrepreneurship-day","tag-estonian-economy","tag-future","tag-innovation"],"acf":{"postbuilder":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","type":"text","text":"Sutt noted that the nominal size of Estonia\u2019s economy has doubled over the past 20 years, despite a period encompassing the global financial crisis, the eurozone debt crisis, the coronavirus pandemic and the economic shocks caused by Russia\u2019s full-scale war.\r\n\r\nIn his view, Estonia\u2019s ability to grow its economy through all this shows that businesses, the state and society have done quite a few things right. Past success does not, however, mean it is time to rest on our laurels.\r\n
\r\n\u201cNow I am going to say something many people may disagree with, but Estonia\u2019s economy has done very well.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>","image":null,"align":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":26354},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","type":"text","text":"
From billion-euro projects to a Baltic single market<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nSutt highlighted the Tallinn\u2013Helsinki tunnel as a potential economic engine. He said it would mean far more than a connection between two capitals: its impact would extend to the economy, logistics and security.\r\n\r\nHe linked the tunnel to Rail Baltica and, in the future, the development of Arctic trade routes. If Finland and Estonia were connected by a fixed link and Rail Baltica continued from here to Central Europe, Estonia\u2019s role in international freight flows could grow considerably. Once Rail Baltica is completed, it would be worth considering the next infrastructure project on a similar scale.\r\n\r\nSutt said it is equally important to attract strategic industries whose impact extends beyond a single factory. He specifically discussed permanent magnet production: such an investment can connect Estonia to an international value chain and attract suppliers, research and development, and new businesses.\r\n\r\nNot every opportunity for economic growth requires a billion-euro project, however. Sutt believes a small country has advantages of its own: the ability to make decisions quickly and make it easier for companies to operate.\r\n\r\nHe highlighted closer integration among the Baltic states. In banking, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania already function as a fairly unified market, and he believes the same principle could be extended to other fields. A business starting in Estonia would then immediately gain access to a larger home market, rather than three small, separate ones.\r\n\r\nSutt said this does not always require new laws or yet another strategy, but above all the ability to use existing opportunities. \u201cNot a single new law is needed. It is all in our own hands. We do not need another report,\u201d he said.\r\n
Growth starts with ambition<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nAt the end of his presentation, Sutt returned to his central message. Estonian businesses have made many sound choices over recent decades; otherwise, the economy could not have grown so much despite the crises.\r\n\r\nHe therefore sees no need to keep searching for past mistakes. What matters more is deciding how high Estonia will set its next bar. \u201cThere is no point staring into the rear-view mirror. The watchwords going forward should be \u2018mindset\u2019, \u2018ambition\u2019 and \u2018courage\u2019,\u201d Sutt said. Ultimately, each company must define its own ambition.\r\n\r\nIf more capital-intensive investment enabled Estonia to double the size of its economy over the next decade, Sutt said, this would mean the same tax burden but considerably more money for defence, healthcare and other essential areas. \u201cThe central concept is a focus on growth. We talk an enormous amount about cost efficiency. But cost efficiency alone will not deliver growth,\u201d he said. Estonia\u2019s goal for the next decade must therefore be an economy that is not only more efficient, but also larger and more ambitious.\r\n
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