Alexander Perov, senior expert of National Energy Security Foundation

– Rosatom’s activity in Africa is quite natural

Russia is planning to develop a uranium deposit in Namibia, Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia Yuri Trutnev said during a press-conference. «Namibia has no sufficient power capacities and obviously needs to develop its energy sector. First of all, they hope to develop water power engineering. We believe that we may also develop uranium deposits: I mean not only prospecting and mining uranium but also supplying and operating nuclear reactors. We have already made such a proposal.” When asked how much money might be invested in that project, Truvnev said: “We have not yet negotiated the cost of the project but, obviously, it is matter of billions of US dollars.”

The nuclear industry is one of Russia’s few competitive players on the world market. We are interested not only in building new nuclear power plants abroad but also in creating new resource markets. Rosatom’s activity in Africa is quite natural. As far as I know, Russia is also planning to intensify its nuclear power cooperation in South America and Asia.

As regards Africa, it is regarded as one of the most promising regions of the world. It is an attractive market for European, American and Chinese companies. We are yet behind in this race. The Soviet Union was very active in Africa but in the 1990s we were forced out of that region. Today, we are coming back with highly competitive technologies. So, I can only welcome the nuclear energy agreements signed during the visit of Dmitry Medvedev to Africa.