The deal for Russia to build the first nuclear power plant in Moscow's former Communist-era ally Vietnam is worth an estimated 5.6 billion dollars, French news agency AFP reported on Oct. 31, 2010.
It was concluded in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on October 30, 2010 between Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Minh Triet.
Medvedev, along with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, were among senior foreign figures attending the 17th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Vietnamese capital.
Russians Get in First
An official of the Russian state nuclear conglomerate Rosatom told AFP that the construction cost of a two-reactor plant was estimated at more than four billion euros (5.58 billion US dollars).
Moscow had said earlier it was willing to provide a loan to Vietnam to help finance the building of the plant.
Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko said a timeframe of 2020 for completing the Russian-built plant was "absolutely realistic", adding: "The fact that we are the first to start gives us a good competitive advantage."
Vietnam wants to build eight nuclear facilities in the next 20 years, AFP added. Initial government plans call for four reactors, with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts and at least one of them operational in 10 years' time. Kiriyenko said Russia would be keen to win more deals at a later stage.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, also in Hanoi, said that other Asian countries were eager to strike nuclear power deals with Moscow.
"Our partners expressed particular interest in nuclear energy, noting Russia's vast experience in this sphere," the English-language Communist Party-run Saigon GP Daily website quoted him as saying.
Vietnam, Russia Old Allies
Vietnam is looking particularly to Russia, as an old ally, to help its economic growth and drive to modernization.
Bilateral ties date back to the Soviet era, when the Soviet Union became Vietnam's main benefactor with the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. But after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Moscow's economic and military aid dried up.
In 2009, the trade turnover between the two countries stood at less than 1.6 billion dollars, the Russian international satellite TV news channel Russia Today reported.
Now both sides are hoping to give impetus to a new economic and trade relationship.
In an article published in Vietnamese media, and cited by Russia news agency RIA Novosti, President Medvedev said: "Several Russian companies plan to take part in the construction of new electric power plants and in the modernization of the existing electric power facilities in Vietnam."
Meanwhile, Vietnam was one of the few foreign countries involved in oil extraction on Russian territory, through the RusVietPetro joint venture, Medvedev noted.
The company, registered in 2008, is 51 per cent owned by Russia's Zarubezhneft with the rest belonging to Vietnam's state-run PetroVietnam.
Vietnam has also become a significant importer of Russian weapons. In July 2010, reports said Russia had signed agreements to sell 20 Sukhoi fighter planes to Vietnam. And in December 2009 Vietnam signed a deal to buy six Kilo class submarines, aircraft and other military hardware from Russia, RIA Novosti recalled.
Russia Today quoted Russian political analyst Ekaterina Koldunova as saying that Vietnam’s stability was one of the main reasons why Russia chose to collaborate on the construction of its first nuclear power plant.
"[Vietnam] is a reliable partner, with which Russia has a long history of productive interaction," Koldunova noted.
Vladimir Mazyrin from Moscow's Institute of African and Asian Studies told Russia Today: "Russian money, big companies, are flowing to Vietnam, bringing millions of dollars of investment, which is a good sign of healthy relations."
Vietnam-Japan Nuclear Deal
Japan is also to build two civil nuclear reactors to help meet Vietnam's growing energy needs, Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced with his Vietnamese counterpart after ASEAN's Hanoi summit. The Japanese nuclear project will be located in Ninh Thuan province, in southern Vietnam, the UK's Financial Times newspaper reported.
In March 2010 the USA concluded a memorandum of understanding on nuclear cooperation with Vietnam, but Vietnam must sign a formal agreement before it is allowed to import American nuclear technology, the Financial Times recalled.
It added: "France and South Korea have also been vying to secure nuclear power projects in Vietnam, which wants to generate as much as 20 per cent of its energy from nuclear by 2030."
Japan is also keen to export to Vietnam its high-speed rail technology and expertise in building metro (underground rail) systems.
Peter Feuilherade - I took voluntary early retirement from the BBC in 2010, and I'm now a freelance writer. I had worked there as a reporter and news editor ...
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