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Estonian Internet Foundation and LHV enter into loan agreement

On 29 October 2009 the foundation and LHV Bank entered into a loan to finance the transition to the new .ee domain management system. The contract was signed by chairman of the board Marek-Andres Kauts and board member Jaak Lippmaa (EIF) and chairman of the board Erki Kilu and private banking manager and board member Indrek Nuume (LHV).

Speaking about the agreement, Kauts drew parallels with 1998 when international Internet management was renewed and the global Internet organisation ICANN was formed. ICANN`s was also launched as a result of bridge financing, provided by the four companies interested in the development of the Internet: Cisco Systems, MCI WorldCom, 3Com and Deutsche Telekom. In Estonia today LHV Bank is taking the same role in order to assist the development of Internet organisation in the country.

Kilu explained the two main reasons LHV has an ongoing interest in supporting Estonia's Internet in the renewal process: first, the bank wants to extend the possibility for businesses to see the Internet as a business environment, which is primarily through the liberalisation of domain rules and improving the availability of domain names in Estonia; and second, the bank is interested in ensuring a high level of security for Estonia’s Internet space.

The loan is valued at 3 million Estonian kroons.