The Chamber of Commerce supports the creation of the position of the Minister of Foreign Trade

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked for an opinion from the Chamber of Commerce in relation to the possible creation of the position of the Minister of Foreign Trade. The Chamber of Commerce sees that Estonia needs a minister whose area of responsibility would be the topics related to export and investments. At the moment, there is not enough of coordinated activity between the economic diplomats and Enterprise Estonia export advisers who reside in foreign countries in order to develop the Estonian export.

Export needs rigorous fiscal support
The representations of foreign countries in Estonia support the business interests of the homeland with their actions, the interests of the entrepreneurs are protected and opportunities for cooperation are sought actively. The representatives of the large countries stand out especially well doing that.

The Minister of Foreign Trade should reside at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Areas of responsibility of the Minister of Foreign Trade should be topics related to export and investments, in addition, their responsibility should be Enterprise Estonia (EAS). Additionally, the areas of responsibility should be economic diplomacy and topics related to increasing the capabilities and importance of diplomats. The creation of the new position should create a situation where both economic diplomats and Enterprise Estonia export advisers residing in foreign countries would belong under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Foreign Trade and would act out in coordination in the interest of Estonian businesses.

There should be an economic representative supporting businesses in each embassy and in major partner countries the resources should be even bigger. Also, it would be wise to add development cooperation related topics to the area of responsibility of the Minister of Foreign Trade.

The position of the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology should be revoked
The tasks of the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology should be transferred to the Minister of Foreign Trade (for example, in relation to export and investments) and some topics should be the task of the current Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure (for example, areas connected to construction, housing, innovation telecommunications, and information technology).