10/22/2010Japan, Vietnam reach civilian power deal
TOKYO, ,Japan and Vietnam have reached a basic agreement on a civilian nuclear cooperation deal, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Friday, a move to help Japanese firms export nuclear power generation technologies and materials to the Southeast Asian country.
"We have substantively reached an agreement this week with Vietnam to sign the treaty," Maehara told a press conference, adding that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung are expected to confirm the deal during their bilateral talks in Hanoi on Oct. 31.
Vietnam plans to build 14 nuclear reactors by 2030 to meet a growing demand for electricity, with the four plants slated to begin operating around 2014. Japan, the world's third-biggest nuclear power generator after the US and France with a 50-year history of developing nuclear power generation, hopes to receive an order for two of them.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2119842&Language=en
