Estonia and Palestine

Stored in:

Country by Country

Estonia and Palestine

Bilateral relations

(last updated: 12.03.2013)

The Palestinian Authority (Palestine Liberation Authority, PLO) is an organisation with limited powers, and therefore Estonia cannot associate with the PLO like it would with a sovereign state. In accordance with the 1993 Oslo Accords, Estonia recognises the Palestine Liberation Authority as the representative of the Palestinian people on the international level. The representative to Estonia from the mission of the Palestine Liberation Authority based in Helsinki has been Mr. Nabil al-Wazir since 2006.

Visits

to Palestine
December 2010	Delegation of the Riigkogu foreign affairs committee
June 2010	President Toomas Hendrik Ilves
November 2009	Foreign Minister Urmas Paet

to Estonia
September 2011	Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology Mashhour Abudaka
June 2010	Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki
October 2009	Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology Mashour Abudaka
July 2004	Deputy Information Minister of the Palestinian Authority Dr. Ahmed Soboh

Economic relations

Estonian-Palestinian trade 2007-2012 (thousand EUR):

Year	Export	Import
2007	25	0
2008	63	0
2009	63	0
2010	2	0
2011	67	0
2012	58	0

Trade between Estonia and Palestine is minimal. In 2011 peat was exported to Palestine. There was no import from Palestine.

All economic data from Statistics Estonia.

Development and humanitarian aid

Since 2006 Estonia has supported the Palestinian Authority with development and humanitarian aid totalling over 750 000 euros. An overview of the projects can be found in Estonia’s development co-operation database: https://rakendused.vm.ee/akta/index.php?language=eng

Other

An official friendship agreement between Bethlehem and Haapsalu was signed on 16 September 2010. Representatives of Bethlehem planted a fir tree in the Count’s Garden in Haapsalu, and when it grows taller it will become the city’s Christmas tree.