Belarus shows interest in Rooppur power plant

Belarus, a former republic of the Soviet Union, has shown interest to be involved with Bangladesh’s nuclear power plant project in Rooppur. It is eager to sign an agreement with Bangladesh in this regard.

Belarus’ deputy industries minister Dmitry Kharitonchik, presently visiting Bangladesh, said this in reply to a question from Prothom Alo on Saturday morning.

The deputy minister Kharitonchik arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday, on a six-day visit to join the festivities for Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birthday and the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence. He was speaking at the Dhaka Club to the media about his trip.

The deputy minister said, the first phase of nuclear power construction has been completed in Belarus. They have made reactors and Bangladesh is interested in Belarus’ experience. “We also want to learn about Bangladesh’s experience regarding power plants,” he said. He said, “We have not discussed the matter of constructing the actual power plant because this is a task for specialized companies. We have basically talked about how a suitable and effective infrastructure should be and how to ensure optimum usage of power.”

The Belarus deputy minister for industries stressed the safety aspect of the nuclear power plant, saying they had discussed this issue too. He said, “We all remember the tragic Chernobyl nuclear incident in the former Soviet Union. In light of past experience, we feel the matter of safety is extremely important. We discussed training for experts in safety measures. We also talked about protective equipment.”

Dmitry Kharitonchik said, “It is important for the two countries to sign an agreement for effective cooperation in this regard. The concerned ministries and agencies will discuss and finalise the matter.”

Present at the briefing, Belarus ambassador to Bangladesh, Andrei Rzheussky, said there was opportunity for cooperation in the construction sector, agriculture and food processing technology, studies at the Belarus universities and other areas. And Bangladesh basically exports readymade garments, he added.

Concerning joining the Eurasian economic zone, he said that this was complicated because the zone had five members and Bangladesh could join only on the basis of the approval of all the members.

Also present at the meeting was Belarus honorary consul in Bangladesh, Aniruddha K Roy.