Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) has said that he does not see any conflict in a democratic country developing relations with the Kingdom.

The ministry's draft explanatory memorandum states: "The goal of this agreement is to strengthen relations between the Republic of Estonia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by developing and supporting cooperation in such areas as the economy, trade, investment, education, science, tourism, and youth work."

The statement also highlights that Estonia's primary goal in Saudi Arabia, and the broader Persian Gulf region, is to cultivate stronger economic ties.

"Saudi Arabia has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and this has led to increased interest in this market from Estonian companies," the ministry went on. "Estonian companies already operate, there primarily in the fields of digitization and IT, and this directly contributes to the image of Estonia as a progressive country."

"Saudi Arabia is also interested in developing cooperation in the fields of education, science, tourism, and other areas," the ministry added.

According to the explanatory memorandum, Estonia's relations with Saudi Arabia have significantly intensified since the opening of the Estonian embassy in neighboring Abu Dhabi, in 2019, and the establishment of an Enterprise Estonia (ESA) office in Dubai that same year.

The Estonian ambassador to the UAE is also accredited to Saudi Arabia.

The ministry continued: "Saudi Arabia has emerged as Estonia's most important cooperation partner in the region, evidenced by the active political-level communication and reciprocal visits."

The general cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia is as necessary precursor to supporting economic cooperation and build mutual trust in the long term, the ministry says.

The agreement is also significant in that it supports the entry and operation of Estonian companies in the Gulf states' markets, the ministry added.

According to the data presented in the explanatory memorandum, the 2023 trade volume between Estonia and Saudi Arabia totaled €54.3 million, which made up just 0.1 percent of Estonia's total foreign trade, and placing Saudi Arabia 46th among Estonia's listed trading partners.

Last year, Estonia exported goods worth €29.3 million to Saudi, with the main export items being plant products (46.2 percent).

Machinery, machine tools and other mechanical equipment (28.4 percent) and wood and timber and products made from same (9.51 percent) were other significant export categories.

Estonia imported goods worth €25 million from Saudi Arabia in 2023, with the main import item being plastics and plastic products (making up 74.2 percent of the total).

The volume of services exported to Saudi Arabia meanwhile has remained at a value around €10 million in the past two years, while imports have been below the €3 million-mark.

The Foreign Ministry added in its explanatory memorandum that when interacting with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region, one must take into consideration their unique characteristics, including differing views on faith, and even on human rights, as well as the Saudis' openness to cooperation with Russia and other countries deemed unfriendly to Estonia.

"Despite all of this, there are no real obstacles to cooperation in those areas which are of interest to us," the ministry stated.

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, while a Basic Law adopted by royal decree in 1992 requires the king, currently Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, to comply with the tenets of Sharia and the Quran; the Quran and Sunnah are declared to be the country's constitution as such.

This means the ruling House of Saud holds executive and legislative power, though the judiciary is granted independence to use independent legal reasoning when making a decision.

It is famous as the birthplace of Islam and as home to the two holiest sites in Islam, Mecca and Medina. This and the fact of its oil wealth renders it the most influential islamic nation worldwide, though with a population of 36.5 million it is not the most populous.

The country's area of 2.15 million square kilometers (Source: CIA World Factbook) gives it a population density of 15 per square kilometer – comparable with Estonia's, though much of the terrain consists of harsh and dry desert.

In 2022, the country's GDP stood at $1.8 trillion (€1.7 trillion), in the top 20 worldwide, and GDP per capita stood at $50,200 (€46,200).

About two-thirds of Saudi Arabia's state budget comes from oil exports, and the country's oil reserves are estimated to be the second-largest in the world with a daily production of about 10 million barrels.

Most political dissent is not tolerated, and many western-style human rights are not observed or are viewed differently.

U.S. State Department-funded human rights organization Freedom House says: "No officials at the national level are elected. The regime relies on pervasive surveillance, the criminalization of dissent, appeals to sectarianism and ethnicity, and public spending supported by oil revenues to maintain power."

New York-based international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports: "Saudi Arabia spends billions of dollars hosting major entertainment, cultural, and sporting events to deflect from the country's poor human rights record. Saudi Arabia has announced important reforms, but the repression of independent civil society and critical voices impedes any attempt at reform," and also references the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

London-based human rights NGO Amnesty International says on its website: "Human rights defenders continued to be arbitrarily detained or subject to travel bans following their conditional release from prison. Courts handed down death sentences following grossly unfair trials, including in cases of individuals who were children at the time of their alleged crimes, and people were executed for a wide range of crimes."

"Women continued to face discrimination in law and practice," the organization adds.

Saudi Arabia has also been accused of supporting Islamist terror groups.

Tsahkna: I see no conflict here

In response to ERR radio news journalist Margitta Otsmaa's question about why Estonia has concluded a double taxation agreement with Saudi Arabia given the above, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) said that the relationship is part of the government's approved long-term action plan.

The minister said: "We have a long-term action plan approved by the government with Saudi Arabia, primarily concerning business relations, cooperation in the IT sector, investments, and the presence of our companies in the Saudi market."

He emphasized that these aspects have also been reviewed from a values-based policy perspective. "However, we are not the only country in the world to do this; Saudi Arabia is in a position where a certain level of cooperation is possible, and here we primarily stand for the interests of Estonia's economy and companies. So I don't see any conflict here," the foreign minister went on.

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