The government of Rwanda and Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear corporation, have held the first meeting of their joint coordinating committee on nuclear energy cooperation in Moscow. Co-chaired by Rosatom’s First Deputy Director General for Development and International Business Kirill Komarov and Lassina Zerbo, Energy Advisor to the President of Rwanda and chair of the Rwanda Atomic Energy Board (RAEB), the meeting took place on Monday, June 29. The two parties reviewed the progress of cooperation across key tracks including the establishment of a nuclear power plant project, and non-power applications of nuclear technologies. The officials’ discussions covered the creation of a centre for nuclear science and technology, development of national nuclear infrastructure, and advancing relevant human resources. Regulatory aspects of the programme were addressed separately. Following the meeting, the parties signed a roadmap on small modular reactors. “Today’s meeting takes cooperation between Russia and Rwanda in the nuclear field to a systemic level. We are moving from framework agreements to joint work on concrete tracks: from training national personnel and developing nuclear infrastructure to projects in nuclear science and small modular reactors. Rwanda is building its nuclear programme consistently and responsibly, and Rosatom is ready to be a reliable partner for the country at every stage of this journey,” said Komarov. On Rwanda’s side, Lassina Zerbo said the roadmap agreed upon builds on the bilateral cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy initiated in 2018. “Our priority is to include nuclear power within our energy mix by the early 2030s to address the growing energy demand in Rwanda. Implementing a nuclear energy programme is first and foremost an investment in people, in science and in the country’s long-term development. The Joint Coordinating Committee allows us to move to substantive work across every track of our programme. We greatly value our partnership with Russia in its continued training of Rwandan specialists towards the building of nuclear capacity and infrastructure,” he noted. The Rwandan delegation’s visit to Russia also included participation in the Obninsk New 2026 international youth forum and a technical tour of Rosatom’s machine-building facilities in Podolsk. Cooperation between Russia and Rwanda in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy is based on a series of agreements. On December 5, 2018, an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy was signed in Moscow. In 2019, on the sidelines of the Russia–Africa Summit in Sochi, the parties signed an agreement on the construction of a Centre for Nuclear Science and Technology in Rwanda, which is to include a 10 MW research reactor and a set of laboratories. Rosatom State Corporation is a Russian state nuclear corporation and one of the global leaders in nuclear technology. The company brings together the enterprises of the nuclear power complex and operates in power generation, engineering, scientific research and nuclear medicine.
