The first steps after gaining independence. Conversation with Raivo Vare

After the collapse of the Soviet empire, 15 countries gained independence. After 30 years, the most developed of them is Estonia. The former Soviet republic has no oil and gas deposits, and the climate is one of the most difficult for agriculture. Nevertheless, the small state has the highest standard of living and the highest pensions in the entire post-Soviet space. How was it possible to achieve such impressive results in a country whose economy was 99 percent tied to an absolutely ineffective economic system in the USSR? Estonian politician and entrepreneur Raivo Vare, who personally took part in the reforms at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, tells about it. In particular, he had to hold the post of state minister in the transitional government of Estonia after the country left the Soviet Union in 1991.