An Estonian non-profit will help Mongolia’s digital infrastructure get up to speed as part of a memorandum of understanding signed to support the Asian country’s digital transformation. The digital infrastructure includes tools for digital identity and electronic signatures.

The e-Governance Academy, an Estonian non-profit think tank and consultancy that aids government institutions in the transition to digital governance, announced it will collaborate with Mongolia’s ministry of digital development and communications. The agreement between the e-Governance Academy and the Mongolian government will entail teaching and advising Mongolian civil servants on digital skills, building the capacity for IT and communications professionals, exchanging experience, supporting the development of digital strategies, and cybersecurity capacity-building.

Hannes Astok, the executive director of the academy, noted Mongolia’s leap forward in public digital services provision with the launch of its e-Mongolia mobile app. The digital ID app offers access to a wide range of government services from business, education, renewing a driver’s licenses, real estate, and immigration, as well as birth registration.

It also provides certificates for vaccinations, particularly useful with the COVID-19 pandemic. e-Mongolia currently has 2 million users and provides 640 services.

It is not the first cooperation between the academy and Mongolia, according to Estonian World. In 2020, the e-Governance Academy consulted Mongolia’s e-government-related policy development, improving interoperability between public registers and databases, and gave seminars on raising citizen awareness of public services.

Estonia is widely considered a global leader in government-backed digital ID.