23 October 2019, Sochi – Russia and Ethiopia signed an Intergovernmental framework agreement on cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy on the side lines of the Russia-Africa Economic Forum.
The parties were represented by ROSATOM’s Director General Alexey Likhachev and Ethiopia’s Innovation and Technology Minister Getahun Mecuria Kuma respectively, both of whom lent their signatures to the agreement.
The agreement will serve as a springboard for active dialogue between the two countries in the field of nuclear technologies. It also creates a legal framework for cooperation in a wide range of sectors and for the implementation of selected joint projects. Areas of cooperation include: developing nuclear infrastructure in accordance with international recommendations; applying nuclear and radiation safety regulations and overseeing the physical security of nuclear materials, sources of radiation, storage facilities for nuclear materials and radioactive substances, as well as accounting and control systems for nuclear materials, radioactive substances, and radioactive waste; implementing fundamental and applied research for peaceful uses of nuclear technologies; producing and using radioisotopes in various industries, including healthcare and agriculture; cooperating in the field of radiation technologies and nuclear medicine applications; and educating, training, and retraining specialists for the nuclear industry.
In order to implement the above areas of cooperation, the agreement provides for the creation of a joint coordination committee; implementing selected projects and scientific studies; peer exchange programmes, seminars and conferences, and other such opportunities and frameworks for exchanging scientific and technical research; 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.
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The agreement was signed following the signing of a MoU between Rosatom and Ethiopia’s Ministry of Science and Technology in 2017.
