Asia > Southern Asia > Bangladesh > Russia to help build 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant

Bangladesh: Russia to help build 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant

2015/10/29

With strong relations dating back to the war of liberation in 1971, Bangladesh and Russia are seeing a closer and additional comprehensive partnership spanning over law and justice, counter terrorism, education, culture, healthcare and medical sciences, agriculture inclunding nuclear energy

Bangladesh has historically very strong ties with Russia. In 1971 the former Soviet Union stood by the country in its journey towards independence, later supporting Bangladesh’s reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts and development of its war-damaged economy. Relations are set to expand rapidly with the proposed establishment of an intergovernmental commission for cooperation in the areas of trade, economic and scientific and technical issues.

In recent years, the Bangladesh government has decided to widen and deepen Dhaka’s engagements with Moscow in a mutually beneficial manner. In line with this policy, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina paid an official visit to the Russian Federation at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin in January 2013.

President Putin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina held detailed discussions on the status of existing bilateral relations and prospects of further cooperation between their two nations in various fields and on a number of significant regional and international issues. Both sides have acknowledged the consistent development of political dialogue between the nations and the considerable evolution completed in deepening bilateral ties, which hold significant potential for further collaboration.

During the visit, a number of significant legal instruments were signed, inclunding an Inter-Ministerial Memoranda of Considerate in the areas of law and justice, education, culture, healthcare and medical sciences and agriculture. An agreement on creating a Nuclear Energy Data Center in Dhaka was as well reached.

Inter-governmental agreements on providing national credit to Bangladesh to finance the preparatory works of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant construction were as well signed. The Russian side confirmed the intention of its engineering company Technopromexport to take part both in the reconstruction of the power generation facilities which were established with Russian assistance and in the construction of new power generation facilities. Other areas of priority for cooperation include boosting the inter-parliamentary mechanisms of cooperation and additional frequent contacts in the fields of culture and mass media.

Russia is assisting Bangladesh in building a 2,000MW power plant in Rooppur. The initial of its kind in Bangladesh, it is considered to be a milestone in tackling the increasing power request in the backdrop of a rapidly growing economy. Apart from technical assistance, Russia is providing a loan of $500 million to offset the total construction cost of $2 billion. Moreover, Russia’s national-owned energy firm Gazprom has been awarded contracts for drilling wells in existing gas fields in Bangladesh, in collaboration with the Bangladesh national-owned exploration company, BAPEX.

Russia is as well assisting Bangladesh in building a 2,000MW power plant in Rooppur. The initial of its kind in Bangladesh, it is considered to be a milestone in tackling the increasing power request in the backdrop of a rapidly growing economy

Both nations are as well enjoying growing trade relations, where the current bilateral trade is worth additional than $700 million, which is much less than the potential. Talks to allow Bangladesh business-free access to the Russian Federation market look promising, particularly next its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and in keeping with the commitments made in the WTO in respect of the LDCs like Bangladesh. Furthermore, Bangladesh is seeking Russia’s assistance in getting business-free, quota-free access for its products into the recently established Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (other members include Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan).

The next: further cooperation and growth

It is clear that the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has placed the relationship on a firm footing. The establishment of an intergovernmental commission, co-chaired by the two respective foreign ministers, would be the basis for an expanded relationship between the two nations. In addition, a Bangladesh-CIS Joint Chamber of Commerce has been created, while agreements for on-arrival visa facilities have as well been signed.

Both nations are engaged in discussions about various ways of broader economic engagements, particularly engaging the private sectors, particularly creating additional congenial two-way trade and investment opportunities inclunding exchange of cultural delegations.

The robust bilateral relations between Bangladesh and the Russian Federation are transforming fast into a truly comprehensive and cooperative relationship – one that has by presently attained great dimensions and will continue to grow further in the years ahead for the mutual benefit of the people of both nations.

Related Articles

Global growth will be disappointing in 2016: IMF's Lagarde
2016/01/02 World economic increase will be disappointing next year and the outlook for the medium-term has as well deteriorated, the chief of the International Monetary Fund said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and an economic slowdown in China were contributing to uncertainty and a higher risk of economic vulnerability worldwide. Added to that, increase in world trade has slowed considerably and a decline in raw material prices is posing problems for economies based on these, while the financial sector in a lot of nations still has weaknesses and financial risks are rising in emerging markets, she said.
Bangladesh has approved construction of a large-scale solar park
2015/11/23 The government of Bangladesh has approved construction of a large-scale solar park as part of a push to increase the share of power from renewable sources in this electricity-starved country. The new solar park, which is due to begin generating within the next 18 months, will supply up to 200 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the national grid. Sun Edison Energy Holding (Singapore) Pte Ltd will build the park in Teknaf sub-district, the southernmost point in mainland Bangladesh. The solar power will be cheaper than electricity from conventional power stations. The tariff rate has been fixed at Tk 13.26 per kilowatt/hour ($0.17), two-thirds the price of electricity generated by oil-fuelled plants.
Islamist militancy on the rise in Bangladesh
2015/08/09
Revised IMF forecasts signal gloom on global economic outlook
2015/01/20 Low oil prices will not provide a sufficient updraught to dispel the clouds hanging over the world economy, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. In a sign of its increasing gloom about the medium term economic outlook, the IMF cut its world economic increase forecasts by 0.3 % points for both 2015 and 2016, despite believing cheaper oil represents a “shot in the arm”.
Oxfam Study Finds Richest 1% Is Likely to Control Half of Global Wealth by 2016
2015/01/20 The richest 1 % are likely to control additional than half of the globe’s total wealth by next year, the charity Oxfam reported in a study released on Monday. The warning about deepening world inequality comes just as the world’s business elite prepare to meet this week at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The 80 wealthiest people in the world all own $1.9 trillion, the statement found, nearly the same all shared by the 3.5 billion people who occupy the bottom half of the world’s gain scale. (Last year, it took 85 billionaires to equal that figure.) And the richest 1 % of the people, who number in the millions, control nearly half of the world’s total wealth, a share that is as well increasing.