Digital identity expertise becomes an export as nations deepen partnerships

Governments are increasingly looking beyond their borders for digital identity and digital government expertise, with new partnerships between Germany and Estonia and between Ukraine and Panama highlighting the growing internationalization of digital transformation efforts.

While Germany hopes to learn from Estonia’s experience with digital identity and public-sector digitization, Ukraine is positioning its Diia platform and digital government expertise as models for countries seeking to modernize public services and digital infrastructure.

Germany to learn about digital ID from Estonia

Germany has signed an innovation partnership agreement with Estonia, which has, in recent years established itself as a trailblazer in digitalization. The two countries have pledged to collaborate on areas such as European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallets, AI, digital sovereignty, cybersecurity and public procurement.

“We are jointly strengthening the innovative capacity of the state and creating the foundation for high-performance, secure, and user-oriented digital solutions in Europe,” Federal Minister for Digital Affairs Karsten Wildberger said during the signing of the memorandum at the TECH trade fair in Heilbronn.

The collaboration between the two countries is based on a “very similar legal system,” according to Liisa-Ly Pakosta, Estonia’s minister of Justice and Digitalization.

Germany is expected to learn from the Baltic country: While 90 percent of Estonians use their national electronic identity to access government services, less than 10 percent of Germans do. Estonia has recently issued a procurement for the development of a national EUDI Wallet.

According to the Joint Innovation Partnership, the two sides will exchange best practices in EUDI Wallets, prioritizing tests in cross-border scenarios, such as business registration, professional credentials and service access. More importantly, the partners aim to initiate a new Large-Scale Pilot (LSP) at the EU level, involving a consortium of national partners, to develop a Sovereign European payment connector for the EUDI Wallet.

When it comes to AI, Estonia and Germany plan to align on developing AI sandboxes, trustworthy AI toolboxes, agentic solutions, and large-scale public-sector use cases of AI. To achieve this, the duo will work through joint pilots and rely on interoperable and open-source solutions. One joint project could be developing new standards for AI development under the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF).

Other tasks include sharing best practices related to digital sovereign infrastructure and modernizing public administration, specifically public procurement. Cybersecurity in public services will also be a priority and will include close cooperation between the Federal Office for Information Security (Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik, BSI) and the Republic of Estonia Information System Authority (Riigi Infosüsteemi Amet, RIA).

The agreements reflect a broader shift in digital transformation efforts. Rather than building identity and digital government systems in isolation, countries are increasingly sharing technology models, governance frameworks and implementation expertise as digital identity, digital wallets and digital public infrastructure become strategic national capabilities.

Ukraine to work with Panama on digitalizing maritime sector

Ukraine and Panama are also boosting their cooperation on digitalization, just as the Latin American country is working to integrate its national digital ID system and mobile driving licenses (mDLs) into its digital state. The collaboration between the two sides will include e-government, cybersecurity, financial technologies — and digitization in the maritime sector.

Panama governs the Panama Canal, one of the world’s largest ship registries, and a massive port and logistics hub. Ukraine plans to share its experience in digitizing maritime services with electronic certificates, as well as help develop smart port infrastructure and digital trade corridors, Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation announced last week.

​The European country will also share its knowledge in building digital infrastructure, including its digital ID platform Diia, which has played a crucial role in keeping the country running during wartime. A core challenge raised by Panama is the disconnect between digital systems across government institutions, which undermines data interoperability.

​“Panama is currently modernizing its public services system, and we are ready to share our experience in building convenient, transparent, and anti-corruption digital services,” says the Ministry of Digitalization.

During the meeting, Ukraine also presented its agentic AI services, including the Diia.AI assistant, which provides information to citizens through conversation, The Odesa Journal reports.

​ The discussions suggest that digital identity and digital government expertise are increasingly becoming exportable assets, with countries seeking proven models rather than developing systems entirely from scratch.

Article Topics

digital government  |  digital identity  |  Estonia  |  EU Digital Identity Wallet  |  Germany  |  Panama  |  Ukraine