Estonian-created TEPP portal handed over to European Commission

The European Commission was formally presented with the Team Europe Partnerships Portal (TEPP), the Estonian-created platform for EU development cooperation projects, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tallinn on Tuesday.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jonatan Vseviov presented the portal to Felix Fernandez-Shaw, director of the Sustainable Development and Coordination Department at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships, according to a ministry press release.

TEPP is aimed at matching the aid needs of development cooperation partners with the innovative solutions of EU member states. Estonia’s initial idea was borne out of the need to use innovative solutions to provide efficient assistance to partner countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over time, it became the coordination platform for all EU projects or Team Europe initiatives.

The platform will improve the implementation of development cooperation in partner countries. In addition to the solutions on offer and an overview of services, the portal will also connect providers of services and solutions, financial institutions, representatives of member states and partner states as well as EU institutions.
“The TEPP cooperation platform is a good example of Estonia’s resilience and its ability to respond to crises and challenges with innovative solutions,” Vseviov said.

“I am happy that the Foreign Ministry’s cooperation with the European Commission and Estonia’s private sector in developing the portal was very fruitful,” he continued. “This project has increased Estonia’s visibility as well as provided an opportunity to expand cooperation with several countries.”

“For the Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications (ITL), the consortium that achieved this result is a success story,” ITL board member Ats Albre said. “The role of the ITL was to kick off this excellent idea and support cooperation between companies that are usually competitors toward a common goal. We would also like to recognize the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for initiating a dialogue with the private sector via the ITL early on to come up with a common solution.”

The TEPP platform was developed in cooperation between the Foreign Ministry’s Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Department, the European Commission, the ITL, and Gofore, a consortium of Estonia’s IT companies, Gofore, Trinidad Wiseman, Aktors and Kodality.

The ministry contributed €450,000 to the development of the portal.

Rewatch the ceremony: YouTube, check out the photo gallery.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs