Japan, Jordan ink civilian nuclear cooperation pact+

AMMAN, Sept. 10 Kyodo -
Japan and Jordan signed Friday a civilian nuclear cooperation pact which will
allow Tokyo to export its nuclear power generation technology and related
equipment to the Middle Eastern country.
Kiyoshi Asako, charge d'affaires at the Japanese Embassy in Jordan, and Khaled
Toukan, chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, inked the accord in
the suburbs of Amman.
Jordan aims to start operation of its first nuclear power plant by 2019 and the
Japan-France consortium as well as Russian and Canadian groups are seeking to
win a bid for the project.
With the newly signed Japanese pact, the consortium formed by Japan's
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and France's Areva SA can provide technologies
to build a commercial nuclear reactor if it wins the bid.
The pact is expected to help stop a losing streak of Japanese firms in
international competitive bidding for nuclear power generation projects.
Japanese companies were recently defeated in their bid for nuclear reactors in
Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates by Russia and South Korea, respectively.
Japan and Jordan launched negotiations to sign the nuclear pact in June and
reached a substantive accord in late July, swiftly concluding the talks. Russia
and Canada have already concluded such a treaty with the Middle Eastern
country.
Jordan has also been negotiating a civilian nuclear cooperation pact with the
United States.
==Kyodo
2010-09-10 23:06:26


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