The small Baltic nation of Estonia began serving as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the first time in its history on Wednesday, a position it will hold until the end of 2021. To mark the occasion President Kersti Kaljulaid hoisted up the United Nations flag in front of her official residence in Tallinn. "Estonia will be at the toughest diplomatic negotiating table in the world for the next two years," she said. "We will help to stand up for a world order based on values and international law, without which we and many other countries and nations would have no place in the world," Kaljulaid said. Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu put it this way: "In the next two years we will be at the centre of world politics." Estonia considers itself one of the world's most advanced digital nations, becoming in 2005 the first country to allow its citizens to vote online. Administrative issues, such as car registrations, are also handled online. The UN Security Council is made up of five permanent veto-wielding members - China, Russia, Britain, France and the United States - and 10 members who are voted in by UN member states for temporary terms.
