Under the agreement signed on Thursday Russia’s state-owned nuclear company Rosatom would build and operate four 1,200 MW nuclear reactors at Dabaa in northern Egypt, helping to fill an energy gap in the Arab world’s most populous country.
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In February, Cairo and Moscow signed a memorandum of understanding to build a nuclear reactor for power generation in Egypt’s northwestern Al-Dabaa region.
“With this signing we have taken the first step to fulfilling Egypt’s dream” of peaceful nuclear power, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi said at the signing ceremony, which was broadcast on Egyptian television.
On Friday, El-Sisi met with Kirienko to discuss the financial and technical requirements to construct the nuclear plant.
The surveying work for the construction is expected to begin in December and Russian Federation will begin training Egyptian nuclear workers for the facility in 2016.
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The deal comes many weeks after a Russian plane crash in Egypt’s Sinai killed all 224 on board, which Moscow has recently announced that the plane was brought down by a bomb. “I’m saying to the leaderships of Russian Federation and France, we stand together with you in the struggle with terror”, el-Sisi said. “We are a partner in the worldwide anti-terrorism alliance”, the Egyptian president stressed, noting Egypt has tightened and intensified security measures in all airports, seaports and outlets nationwide.
