The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

After long parleys, the trip of a Bangladesh delegation to Russia has been finalized to ink deals for installing a nuclear power plant to mitigate a nagging electricity crunch, official sources said.

According to tour schedule, the delegation, led by State Minister for Science and Information Communication Technology Yeafesh Osman, will fly for Moscow on October 17 and stay in the host country from October 19 to 21.

The proposed visit was earlier supposed to take place in August. But, on the plea of security clearance, it was delayed by two months, the sources said.

The government of Bangladesh received a Russian invitation in July and prepared an 8-member delegation list.

But the Russian government took time to do security- clearance formalities for the Bangladesh team to visit their nuclear installations. As per Russian security system, any foreign delegation willing to visit any nuclear power plant needs security clearance.

Officials of the ICT Ministry said they are hopeful that, during the visit, an agreement would be signed between the two countries at the state level to move forward the nuclear-power project in Bangladesh, vexed by perennial power shortages.

"The purpose of the tour is to strike a deal between the two nations and to have experience and learn about the Russian nuclear-power technology," said one official.

Earlier on May 13, Bangladesh and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Dhaka agreeing to enhance cooperation between the two countries for the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The main purpose of the initial accord, in the form of MoU, is to take necessary steps for building a 600-1000-megawatt power plant in Bangladesh.

As per that accord, the state-owned Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) and the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation-Rosatom-will work together to push the proposed power-plant project forward.

After the MoU signing, both the countries reached an understanding that a Bangladesh delegation led by the ICT State Minister would visit Russia to oversee the nuclear-power projects and also learn about the operation of nuclear reactor and other issues.

Bangladesh moves for implementing the nuclear-power project at a time when the country has been experiencing an excruciating power crisis trying to cater for an ever-growing demand for electricity.

Business and industry here have huge untapped potential but suffer a lot for this power crisis-and there is no immediate remedy as there is gas crisis prevailing as well that limits the scope for installing gas-fired plants.