Burkina Faso and Russia continue to strengthen their ties: an agreement has been signed for Moscow to build a nuclear power plant in the Sahelian country, where less than a quarter of the population has access to electricity. RT France writes about it.
“The government of Burkina Faso has signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of a nuclear power plant. The construction of this nuclear power plant is aimed at meeting the energy needs of the population,” RT France writes.
The signing of this agreement between Burkina Faso and Russia took place on the occasion of the Russian Energy Week held in Moscow, which was attended by Burkina Faso’s Energy Minister Simon-Pierre Boussim. On the Russian side, the document was signed by Nikolay Spassky, Deputy Director General of the Rosatom nuclear agency.
“The memorandum is the first document in the field of peaceful use of atomic energy between Russia and Burkina Faso,” the publication quoted Rosatom’s statement as saying.
The document implements the wish of Burkina Faso’s President Captain Ibrahim Traoré, expressed in July at the Russia-Africa summit during an interview with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
According to the African Development Bank, at the end of 2020, only 22.5 per cent of Burkina Binas (67.4 per cent in urban areas, 5.3 per cent in rural areas) had access to electricity.
The African continent currently has only one nuclear power plant in South Africa in Koeberg, near Cape Town.