Russian minister to travel to Iran for Bushehr nuclear power plant launch
| Xinhua-- Iranian ambassador to Moscow Reza Sajjadi said Saturday that Russian energy minister will visit Iran early August for launch of Bushehr nuclear power plant, the semi- official ISNA news agency reported. |
"Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko accompanied by a team is to travel to Iran to join launching ceremony of Iran's Bushehr nuclear facility," Sajjadi told ISNA.
"No definite date is set for operation of the power plant, but Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation (Rosatom) has expressed its readiness to launch the nuclear facility early August," he was quoted as saying.
The Russian delegation first will attend Iran-Russia joint commission to focus on oil, petrol and transportation agreements and then will fly to Iranian southern city of Bushehr to launch the power plant, said ISNA.
On May 31, Iran's Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said that his country was getting ready to connect Bushehr nuclear power plant to the national grid in one month.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier in the month that Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant will be operational within weeks.
Construction of the Bushehr plant was started in 1975 by several German companies. However, the work halted when the United States imposed an embargo on hi-tech supplies to Iran after the 1979 revolution. Russia signed a contract with Iran to complete the construction in 1998.
Completion of the plant's construction was postponed several times by mounting technical and financial challenges and pressure from the U.S..
Also, the director general of Russian Foreign Ministry for Middle East Affairs is to arrive in Tehran on Monday for talks with Iranian officials on Middle Eastern and North African issues, said ISNA on Saturday.