Last update - 00:00 15/04/2007
Abdullah vows Jordan will be model for peaceful nuclear energy
By The Associated Press
Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday promised the UN nuclear watchdog chief that his country will be a model for nuclear energy it plans to develop for peaceful means.
Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, is on the last leg of a three-nation regional tour that comes as several Mideast countries have said they plan to pursue nuclear energy, a development seen as aimed at countering Iran's own disputed nuclear ambitions.
In a closed-door meeting Sunday, Abdullah pledged to ElBaradei that Jordan, an IAEA member and signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, will set a model for others in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
The official Petra news agency quoted ElBaradei as saying his agency was ready to help Jordan to benefit from nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. He said the IAEA would dispatch a team to Jordan next week to look into its plans.
Abdullah said its nuclear program would only be for peaceful uses, generating electricity and desalinating water, according to Petra. He said his country needed to develop the technology to diversify its energy sources, mainly due to rising oil prices.
In January, Abdullah publicly announced for the first time that he wanted to develop Jordan's nuclear capabilities for peaceful purposes - a direct message to Iran that its own nuclear pursuits would not go unchecked. Several regional states, including the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia and Oman, as well as Egypt and Turkey declared similar intentions.
Though the U.S. claims Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons - charges Tehran denies - Washington indicated it had no objection to a peaceful nuclear program in Jordan.
Abdullah's announcement came in an interview with an Israeli newspaper, a move seen to assure his Israeli peace partner that his nuclear program was not aimed against Israel.
Key U.S. allies, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have expressed concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions and the growing Shiite Muslim influence in the region. They claim the Shiite influence is boosting the hardline Tehran regime and giving rise to more extremism, while jeopardizing an Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and threatening their own states.
Jordan also has real energy concerns. Unlike its oil-rich Gulf Arab neighbors, Jordan now imports 95 percent of all of its energy needs and once depended on Iraq for all its oil supplies.
Abdullah said he wants to see Jordan set up a nuclear power plant by 2015 and viewed nuclear energy as a clear alternative to importing oil for such purposes.
The desert kingdom is also considered one of the 10 most water poor countries in the world. Official estimates put its water deficit at more than 30 percent of its available water resources.