Kuldar Väärsi, founder of defence company Milrem, would advise the economy minister to work on attracting foreign investment, as economic growth depends on it.
“Our goal must be to attract investment to Estonia that will increase high value-added industry and jobs,” he said.

We asked 2% of the club two questions – what advice would you give to the Minister of Economy to turn the economy around and what is the biggest untapped opportunity in the Estonian economy.
Here are Kuldar Väärs’ answers.

What is the biggest untapped opportunity in the Estonian economy?

Reducing the environmental footprint of the economy is a global mega-trend, and this area must become a new competitive advantage for the Estonian economy.
This is the biggest wealth redistributing trend of our generation.
We need to be smart to become richer as a society on the back of this trend, to be one of the world’s innovation leaders and to be able to scale this industry internationally.
Clearly, there is a lot of added value here and jobs that value education and high competitiveness.

The Minister of Economic Affairs asks you for your advice: what would you do to turn the Estonian economy, which has been in decline for two years, back to growth?

Maintain and increase Estonia’s attractiveness to foreign capital.
As a small country, we cannot succeed with a closed economy.
Our aim must be to attract investment that will grow high value-added industry and jobs.
Without sufficient capital, Estonian-based companies will not be able to grow into internationally competitive exporters.
Export growth is the basis for economic growth.
Supporting the growth of high value-added industries from start-ups to internationally competitive large-scale industries, either through direct subsidies and incentives or by supporting international sales.
The defence industry is an example.
Defence industry as part of defence capabilities.
Defence contributes to the economy in three different ways, in particular today:
1) Defence is a high value-added industry,
2) defence is a sector of high economic growth with a high economic value-added in the economy,
3) defence industries increase the confidence that Estonia is protected and thus make us more attractive for investment.
Review our regulatory policy.
We cannot have overly rigid regulation that is more rigid than in other European countries.
Overly rigid regulation reduces the competitiveness of Estonian-based companies compared to their European competitors.
It must be based on real need, not on technical finesse.