Foreign Ministry: Estonia will continue to support Palestinian Authority
Estonia will continue to support the Palestinian Authority, said Foreign Minister Marina Kaljurand who is currently on a tour of the Middle East.
In the course of the visit Kaljurand met with President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and Minister of Telecommunications and IT Allam Mousa. The foreign minister reaffirmed at the meetings the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination. "With regard to Israel and Palestine, Estonia supports the two state solution and we are in favor of resumption of negotiations between the sides as soon as possible," spokespeople for the Foreign Ministry in Tallinn quoted Kaljurand as saying.
Both the president and the prime minister confirmed that Palestine is ready to reopen peace talks with Israel.
According to Kaljurand, the relations between Estonia and the Palestinian Authority have been very good. Political consultations have been held on a regular basis since 2013. "Those consultations have been a very useful and successful format in discussing bilateral relations and regional issues and we will definitely continue them in the future," Kaljurand said.
Estonia also supports the activities of the United Nations' Palestine relief organization UNRWA.
Estonia and Palestine have actively cooperated first of all in digital affairs. In recent years Estonia has contributed to building Palestine through the introduction of e-government. March 2015 saw the completion of an e-State Academy project aimed at increasing digital security of the Palestinian Authority and launching e-services. Kaljurand told the Palestinian minister of telecommunications and IT that Estonia is ready to continue cooperation in this field.
Kaljurand's Middle East visit will continue in Israel on Monday. She will take part in the opening panel of the CyberTech 2016 conference. She will also meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Speaker of the Knesset Juli Joel Edelstein and head of the National Cyber Bureau Eviatar Matania. The meetings will focus on bilateral cooperation and the situation in the Middle East. The foreign minister's program further includes a meeting with activists of the Women Wage Peace movement.