Martin Shakkum, Chairman of State Duma Committee on Industry, Construction and High-Technologies

— India has never refused to cooperate with Russia in the energy sector despite the desire of US and French companies to enter the Indian market

«The achievements of our nuclear power engineers have proved that the Russian authorities have chosen the right direction — towards leadership in the world energy sector,» says martin Shakkum. «The local nuclear equipment producers are regaining their positions on this strategic market.» Shakkum reminds that this is not the first success of the Russian nuclear power engineers in the last few months. In Nov 2006 Atomstroyexport won a tender for building NPP in Belene, Bulgaria. «And if, then, we could call it the first big success of the revising Russian nuclear power industry, the success in India was just a proof that energy and nuclear machine building is one of the most competitive segments of our industry.»

Presently, India is actively negotiating with the Americans about their entry into the Indian energy sector. However, only Russia has specific agreements there. «We have always had perfect relations with India and that country has never refused to cooperate with us in the energy sphere despite the desire of the Americans and the French to enter the Indian nuclear power market — unlike, some other post-Soviet states. Particularly, I strongly doubt that Russia will receive any cooperation offer from Lithuania, who is stopping the Soviet-type units at Ignalina NPP under Europe’s pressure and is searching for investors in new NPP projects,» says Shakkum.