Ex-minister Rein Lang takes job with software developer Nortal

Photo: Kristjan Teedema / Tartu Postimees

Veteran Reform Party politician Rein Lang who has held different portfolios in several Estonian governments will join the team of the software developer Nortal, taking charge of the unit counseling customers on legal and policy-shaping matters concerning e-governance solutions and focusing first of all on foreign countries.

Nortal founder and CEO Priit Alamae said the company has in the last 15 years built up one third of Estonia's e-government and thereby acquired a substantial experience which it is successfully exporting across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Development and implementation of e-government solutions does not consist solely of software development: legislation, policies and changes in other fields supporting the development of e-government all have to be in step with it, Alamae said. "Exporting e-government solutions to other countries, the company needs to be aware of the whole and we have the necessary know-how in the house," he said.

Lang said he hopes that cooperation with Nortal will fulfill his long-time dream to apply e-government solutions devised in Estonia also in other societies and he will be happy if his experience benefits Estonian business and thereby increases the country's GDP.

Lang was first elected to parliament in 2003 and was deputy speaker of the Riigikogu in 2003-2005. He served briefly as foreign minister in 2005, held the justice portfolio in 2005-2011 and was the minister of culture in 2011-2013.

Nortal is an international high-end software development solutions provider focusing on e-government, healthcare, telecommunications, manufacturing and logistics. With a staff of 550, its estimated revenue in 2015 was 45 million euros.