23.04.2007 // RIA Novosti

Atomstroyexport: Moscow and Tehran have signed a protocol on stable financing of Bushehr NPP construction in Iran

Moscow and Tehran have signed a protocol on the stable financing of the construction of Bushehr NPP in Iran, the spokesperson of Atomstroyexport Irina Yesipova said on Sunday.

“Today, Russia and Iran have completed one more round of their negotiations over the Bushehr project. The negotiations were quite intensive. As a result, the sides have signed a plan of action for ensuring the stable financing of the project,” Yesipova said.

She said that, if successfully implemented, the plan would solve the problem of financing.

“The next round of the negotiations is to take place in Tehran in May,” Yesipova said.

During the Sunday negotiations in Moscow, the Iranian delegation was led by the deputy director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ahmad Fayyaz-Bakhsh.

The previous round was conducted in Tehran on Feb 9–13. Then, Atomstroyexport proposed that Iran finance the Bushehr project according to the international rather than Iranian law so as to avoid problems with financing.

Iran’s failure to meet its financial obligations earlier this year had seriously questioned the completion of the project. In mid Jan 2007 the Iranian side stopped financing the project. In the fourth quarter of 2006 Atomstroyexport received 60% of the planned financing, in Jan 2007 — $5.1mln, in Feb 2007 – nothing at all.

The sides negotiated this problem, first, in Moscow and, then, in Tehran. In late Mar Atomstroyexport reported that Tehran had paid small part of the financing.

The construction of Bushehr NPP was started in 1975 by Germany under IAEA control. In 1995 Russia and Iran agreed to complete the 1st unit of the plant.

The project was to be completed on June 8, 1999, but has been put off for five times since then.