CAIRO: The historic development of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant has been discussed in a Cairo meeting between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Director-General of ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev.

ROSATOM, the Russian state’s nuclear energy agency, is working with Cairo to construct the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant.

Spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency Bassam Rady said El-Sisi received Likhachev to discuss developments in the construction of the plant.

El-Sisi said Egypt is “looking forward” to the “new edifice” that will add to the achievements of joint Egyptian-Russian cooperation throughout history.

He added that the Egyptian people will cherish the plant as a symbol of Egyptian-Russian friendship.

The Egyptian leader expressed his confidence in Russia’s nuclear energy experience. He said Russian expertise will be reflected in the “highest technical standards” of the plant.

Likhachev said he was keen to strengthen Egyptian-Russian relations at various levels. He also praised the economic conditions and investment climate in Egypt for development projects.

He said that the availability of common political will is one of the most important factors in the success of the El Dabaa project, and is a priority for Russia.

Likhachev also highlighted the role of Egyptian construction companies that are taking part in the construction of the plant.

Head of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority Amjad Al-Wakeel said a permit is expected to be issued in 2021 to establish a site in El Dabaa that will allow construction on the nuclear reactor to begin.

“An approval for construction permission was issued in January 2019 to start the construction of the nuclear plant at El Dabaa with a capacity of 4,800MW,” Al-Wakeel said.

He added that the Nuclear and Radiation Control Authority will issue construction approval to begin laying concrete bases for the first 1200MW reactor of the plant.

Al-Wakeel said that the work of contractors at the El Dabaa site “has nothing to do with reactor construction” and is instead focused on administrative building.

“The authority is waiting to obtain permission to start building nuclear reactors to generate electricity in cooperation with the Russian ROSATOM company that is responsible for construction of the plant,” he added.

Al-Wakeel also said that a maritime berth and global information center in the El Dabaa area will also feature alongside the nuclear plant.