AGERPRES special correspondent Dana Purgaru reports: Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, and His Royal Highness Prince Radu visited the Riigikogu, the Parliament of the Republic of Estonia, on Wednesday, where they met with the Chairman of the Defence Committee, Kalev Stoicescu, who is of Romanian origin, on the same day having also visited the e-Estonia Centre to learn the 'secret of success' behind the most advanced digital society in the world.

During the visit to the unicameral Parliament building of the Riigikogu, located in the historic centre of Tallinn, Her Majesty Margareta and Prince Radu, accompanied by Romania's Ambassador to Estonia Calin Stoica and Colonel Stefan-Antonio Dan-Suteu, Vice-Rector of the 'Carol I' National Defence University, held discussions with Defence Committee Chairman Kalev Stoicescu on topics related to NATO and EU cooperation between the two countries, bilateral relations, and Estonia's support for the Republic of Moldova on its path toward EU integration.

In an exclusive interview with AGERPRES, Kalev Stoicescu expressed his delight at the royal visit from the country where he was born. 'It gave me great pleasure to meet members of the Royal Family. I have always been fascinated by the historical figure of King Michael. As I told Queen Margareta, the last time I was in Romania, in Bucharest at the History Museum, I bought a biography of her father, King Michael, which I read even though I already knew about him,' said the Chairman of the Defence Committee.

'I believe King Michael is an important part of Romania's history, and I'm glad the Royal Family continues to carry out diplomacy on Romania's behalf. Of course, Romania has its own Ministry of Foreign Affairs and hundreds of active diplomats around the world, but they [the Royal Family] also play their part, and after today's meeting, I would say they are fulfilling their role excellently. Any diplomatic effort to strengthen cooperation is very important. There is never too much cooperation,' added Kalev Stoicescu.

Stoicescu, who left Romania as a teenager more than 40 years ago, speaks fluent Romanian and fondly remembers his native country. He does not regret that his parents decided to move to Estonia, even though at the time many people dreamed of relocating 'to the other side of the Iron Curtain.'

'I left Romania at 15 with my family. It was a consensual family decision to move to Tallinn. We didn't move to the other side of the Iron Curtain like most did, because my mother was Estonian. I lived in Romania, then we came here, and times changed after the '90s. I stayed, and I have no regrets,' said Stoicescu, a former diplomat and employee of the Estonian Ministry of Defence, involved in foreign, security and defence policy, and a member of the Estonia 200 political party.

At Parliament, Her Majesty Margareta and Prince Radu also had a brief meeting with Estonia's Prime Minister Kristen Michal.

Later that same day, the two Romanian royals visited the e-Estonia Centre, where the Centre's Director, Triin Joasaare, and Petra Holm, a digital transformation advisor, presented the agency's work, services for citizens, and the 'secret to success' behind building a digital society, based on Estonia's experience, widely regarded as the most advanced digital society in the world.

'When we got our country back in 1991, we had a wonderful opportunity to rebuild it and do things properly for our people. But with a population of 1.3 million, it was a challenge,' explained Petra Holm.

The traditional way wouldn't work, so Estonians sought to do something new. 'Digitisation was the answer because it was the most efficient way to provide services to people across the country, especially since not everyone lives in the capital,' Holm noted. She added that everything started with a 130 million-euro budget, before Estonia became an EU member, with just a handful of people in Tallinn who had worked in IT building computers for the entire Soviet Union.

'Lucky, right? Someone in the Soviet Union decided we would be its brain, so that is what we did. Also, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, editor's note) education was strong in the Soviet Union, and we were already a well-educated nation since the 19th century, which we could build on. So even though we didn't have internet or computers in the country, the leaders made a pragmatic decision to go digital,' Holm explained.

After a decade of preparation, establishing a legislative framework, educating the population, and with great perseverance, Estonia succeeded.

'Governments changed, politicians came and went, but digitisation always remained a priority. We realised it was the only thing that would put us on the map. We didn't have a big population, we couldn't manufacture things, we wouldn't become like Germany, clearly not like China, and we didn't have significant natural resources. So, the IT&C sector, our skills and our education became, basically, our export. Today we are globally recognised for our cybersecurity and digitisation skills. That's what we export. It accounts for almost 11% of our international exports,' added Petra Holm.

'The digital society we have built is, in fact, very scalable. We have proven many times that this can work in countries with much larger populations,' said the e-Estonia representative, who was invited to share this know-how in Romania.

On Wednesday evening, Her Majesty Margareta and Prince Radu attended a reception hosted by Romania's Ambassador Calin Stoica, marking the royal visit to Estonia. Attendees included Estonian officials, members of the Romanian community in Estonia, ambassadors from EU and NATO countries, the Moldovan ambassador to Tallinn, and diplomats from Asia and South America.

Between May 19 and 23, 2025, Her Majesty the Custodian of the Crown and His Royal Highness Prince Radu are paying a visit to the Republic of Estonia, including the cities of Tallinn and Tartu, to support cooperation between Romania and Estonia within the European Union and NATO, as well as to support the European path of the Republic of Moldova.

The visit to Estonia is part of the Romanian Royal Family's tour of countries on the eastern flank of the EU and NATO, following previous visits to Finland and Poland.

This is Her Majesty Margareta's first official visit to Estonia. His Royal Highness Prince Radu previously visited the country in September 2003 and December 2006. According to romaniaregala.ro, this is the third foreign visit of the Romanian Royal Family in 2025, following Princess Sofia's visit to Poland in March and the Custodian of the Crown and Prince Radu's visit to the Republic of Moldova in April. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Mariana Ionescu; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)