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Russia to help Egypt build first nuclear power station

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw the signing on Tuesday of a deal that will enable Moscow to bid for the construction of Egypt's first atomic power station.

The head of Russia's Rosatom nuclear energy agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, and Egyptian Energy Minister Hassan Younis signed the civilian nuclear cooperation accord at Putin's residence just outside Moscow.

The agreement, which has taken years to draw up, will allow Russia to bid in an international tender for a US$1.5 to US$1.8 billion reactor project on Egypt's Mediterranean coast.

Mubarak said that the deal had been reached after "difficult" negotiations, the Interfax news agency reported.

Putin praised Egypt as "one of the leaders of the Islamic and the Arab world" and said Russo-Egyptian relations were of "strategic importance."

Russian president-elect Dmitry Medvedev, who will take over the Kremlin from Putin in May, told Mubarak he expected a "productive partnership" in the nuclear sphere, ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

Russia -- which is close to completing Iran's controversial first nuclear facility in Bushehr and also recently signed a contract for a reactor in Bulgaria -- is keen to re-establish a commercial and diplomatic presence in the Middle East.

Today, nuclear technology and conventional weapons sales are again giving Moscow a foot in the door. Mubarak was expected also to discuss possible arms deals on Tuesday.

The Kommersant newspaper reported that the nuclear cooperation deal had been top of the agenda Its sources had hinted that "Moscow gave some ground to Cairo and now expects an answer," it said. "Moscow particularly hopes that Cairo will return to buying Russian arms."
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