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Luckily there has been in the wake of mass redundancies more talk about industrial parks in Narva, Johvi and Kohtla-Jarve, but it will take 5-10 years for something decent to come into being there, Vahi said in an interview with the weekly Maaleht. Steered by experienced people, those industrial parks could cooperate with the port of Sillamae, which would lead to the flourishing of the East-Viru region, he added.

In Vahi's words, the state is 10 years late with developing the region's economic environment. In addition, in his view it is essential to restore cooperation with Russia. "Then we'll invite investors from the east and the west, start producing oil products, fertilizers and metal products, build a genuine business meeting ground," he said.

Speaking about the energy sector, Vahi considers the oil shale industry to be sustainable as oil shale is Estonia's biggest natural resource to which value can be added. "At the same time, given the current oil price, production of oil from many oily ores is not economically sustainable at present," he noted.

Vahi also said that in his opinion the possibilities of extracting phosphorite and producing phosphorus fertilizers should be examined.