Estonian shale interests Jordan

TALLINN - Prime Minister Andrus Ansip met with Khalid Irani, the minister for energy and natural resources from the Kingdom of Jordan, and the delegation accompanying him at the Stenbock House on Sept. 3. The main aim of the Jordanian delegation’s visit to Estonia was to learn more about the country’s oil shale industry. Estonia and Jordan are working closely together in the field of oil shale.

In May this year, during Ansip’s official visit to Jordan, an agreement was signed by the two countries granting Eesti Energia exclusive rights to investigate options for the production of oil and electricity from local oil shale. The Estonian prime minister stressed during the visit that Jordan is a key partner for Estonia in the Middle East. “Working together the way we have has really borne fruit,” said Ansip. “The agreement we signed up to in the spring is a really important partnership project for us, and I hope it proves beneficial to both Jordan and Estonia.”

Irani said that the Jordanian delegation’s visit to Estonia to learn more about the oil shale industry had proven very constructive, and that they were highly optimistic about the future of the partnership between the two countries. “We’ve now seen how your oil shale industry works and how big it really is,” Irani explained. “And there’s no reason for our cooperation in this field to be the only area we work together in as two nations. We can learn a lot from Estonia in building up our own e-government, for example, and we should definitely strengthen our intercultural and tourism ties.”
The Estonian prime minister and Jordanian energy minister also discussed foreign policy issues, in particular the peace talks that have launched between Israel and Palestine in Washington. Jordanian King Abdullah II has been invited to Washington for the event.

Irani says it is crucial that the talks produce concrete results, since the fate of Palestine is of key importance to the entire region. Ansip says Estonia shares Jordan’s position that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be a step towards an all-encompassing peace in the Middle East.
“I hope the talks produce a solution that satisfies both sides,” Ansip said. “Estonia’s position is that regulation of the conflict must be based on a two-state solution.”

At the meeting, the prime minister gave the Jordanian delegation an overview of Estonia’s economic policy and the state of the country’s economy today.