TALLINN -- Estonian President Alar Karis has accepted Prime Minister Kaja Kallas's resignation and started talks on forming a new government, said a press release from the president's office on Monday.

Kallas, who was nominated as High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, handed in her formal resignation to Karis during a brief meeting at the Presidential Palace in the capital, Tallinn.

The president thanked Kallas, who has led the Estonian government for three and a half years.

He also announced that he would start talks with representatives of all political parties in the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) on forming a new government.