King Abdullah II called Sunday for Jordan's drive to set up a civilian nuclear programme to be accelerated in order to wean the desert country off oil and gas imports.
"Energy represents the main challenge and we must think about radical long-term solutions," the king told the supreme committee for nuclear energy strategy, according to a palace statement.
"It's important to accelerate the establishment of the Jordanian nuclear programme," he said, underlining the need to "find alternative energy sources (…) aimed at reducing Jordanian imports."
Minister for Education and Higher Education Khaled Tuqan said meanwhile that "nuclear energy will account for 30 percent of the total energy produced in Jordan from now until 2030."
Jordan hopes to build its first nuclear power plant by 2015. In April, the Jordanian parliament adopted a law allowing for the use of nuclear energy to produce electricity and desalinate water.
The desert kingdom, which imports 95 percent of its energy needs, is the among the 10 most water-deprived countries on the planet, with a deficit of more than 500 million cubic metres a year, according to official estimates.
