Dmitry Baranov, chief expert of Finam Management

— Signing of agreement between Rosatom and Japan marks a new stage in Russian-Japanese relations

During a meeting in Tokyo on May 12 2009 Director General of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Hirofumi Nakasone signed an inter-governmental agreement for cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy. The document is aimed at laying a firm legal basis for the actively developing Russian-Japanese cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy. The agreement covers a wide range of activities: prospecting and mining of uranium; engineering, construction and operation of light water reactors; processing and treatment of radioactive waste; nuclear safety and ecological control; study and use of radio-isotopes and radiation. The document says that the parties may exchange of experience and experts, provide services and supply materials, products and technologies. The official period of the agreement is 25 years but, de facto, it will be an open-ended agreement unless either of the parties decides to terminate it. The new large-scale Russian-Japanese inter-governmental agreement for cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy has replaced the Soviet-Japanese agreement signed Apr 18 1991 and is expected to foster joint projects. Now the agreement is to be ratified by the Russian and Japanese parliaments.

The signing of an agreement between Rosatom and Japan is an important step marking a new stage in Russian-Japanese relations. It has replaced the agreement signed as far back as the Soviet times. The singing of the agreement has proved that Russian-Japanese contradictions, the global crisis of nuclear energy and the hard post-Soviet times are all in the past. We can and must turn over a new leaf and look into the future, of course, without forgetting about our past.

It should be noted that the signing of such an agreement by countries that do not even have a peace treaty yet proves that they both give very high priority to cooperation in this field.

This agreement is a good basis for other projects in nuclear and other industries. I hope that the Russian and Japanese parliament will ratify this important document without delay.

The agreement is paving the way for our country into new markets. It will give us big revenues, which can be spent on the development of the domestic nuclear industry and will give jobs to thousands of people. We will be able to show to the whole world that our nuclear technologies are among the best and that we are leaders in most of them. That is, we will raise the international prestige of Russia and will show that it is one of the greatest powers of the world not just because it is the successor of the USSR but because it deserves being one.

The supplies of low enriched uranium by Techsnabexport are one of the brightest examples of the efficiency of our nuclear energy cooperation with Japan. In the past 10 years the share of our company on the Japanese market has grown to 15%.

Presently, the parties are considering the possibility of prolonging the supplies till 2020. Now that we have signed this agreement I am sure that this cooperation will be continued and that our share on the Japanese market will grow to 25%.

The agreement offers the Japanese machine builders an excellent opportunity to cooperate with Rosatom on the development of Russia’s machine building industry. This cooperation will be mutually beneficial and will be based on the exchange of experience and technologies. By pooling our efforts we will be able to promote our common products and services in the Asian Pacific. The signing of this agreement is the result of the political will of the Japanese authorities and the continuing reformation of Russia’s nuclear industry aimed at adapting this high-tech sector to the real conditions of the world economy and fitting it into the global labor division.