Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met with the head of Russia's state atomic energy corporation Rosatom on Tuesday in the city of New Alamein to discuss developments on the Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant project, the presidency said. The meeting with Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev came as the two countries signed supplementary agreements aimed at accelerating the construction of the plant. Also present at the meeting were the president of Rosatom's engineering division Atomstroyexport, Andrey Petrov, the Russian Ambassador to Cairo, Georgy Borisenko, as well as Egypt's Minister of Electricity and the head of its Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA). Separately on Tuesday, Egyptian and Russian officials held a signing ceremony for the new agreements at the electricity ministry's headquarters in Alamein. Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mahmoud Essmat, and Rosatom's Likhachev signed a supplementary protocol to the intergovernmental deal on the plant's construction and its physical protection systems. The two officials then witnessed the signing of a related supplementary contract covering the plant's design, procurement, and construction, which was signed by the head of the NPPA, Sherif Helmy Mahmoud, and Atomstroyexport's Andrey Petrov. A statement from the electricity ministry said the agreements were signed as part of both sides' keenness to speed up the project's implementation according to the set timetables. It added that the project is part of Egypt's strategy to rely on clean energy and achieve its updated national energy strategy goals for 2040. "The cooperation and partnership between Egypt and Russia embody the strong political will of the two friendly countries," Essmat said in the statement. "Today's signing… represents an important step towards completing the Dabaa nuclear plant project in its various stages and reflects the fruitful cooperation between Egypt and Russia." Likhachev affirmed Russia's firm commitment to supporting Egypt's efforts in building its first nuclear power plant. "We are proud of our strategic partnership with Egypt and look forward to continuing joint cooperation to implement this ambitious project, which will contribute to enhancing energy security in Egypt and achieving sustainable development goals," he said.
