Russia and Ethiopia have signed a framework agreement on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Economic Forum in Sochi.
The two parties were represented by Russian nuclear company Rosatom’s Director General Alexey Likhachev, and Ethiopia’s Innovation and Technology Minister Getahun Mecuria Kuma.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is leading the South African delegation to the summit, which concludes on Thursday.
Rosatom, in a statement on Thursday, said the agreement would serve as a springboard for dialogue between the two countries in the field of nuclear technologies.
The agreement includes cooperation in the development nuclear infrastructure, safety, storage facilities for nuclear materials and radioactive substances, research and more.
The agreement, according to Rosatom, provides for the creation of a joint coordination committee, peer exchanges, as well as "supplying equipment, materials, and components".
"In the long term, the agreement allows for the possibility of constructing an Ethiopian Centre for Nuclear Science and Technology," says Rosatom.
The agreement follows an earlier memorandum of understanding between the nuclear energy group and Ethiopia in 2017. In May 2019, meanwhile, the parties signed a roadmap for establishing cooperation on the construction of an nuclear power plant.
Ethiopia does not have a nuclear power station.