Russia has offered financial aid to Malawi of $20m to support the construction of a nuclear power plant. Russia’s deputy minister of Internal Affairs, Igor Zubov, made the offer during a meeting in Moscow with Malawi’s Minister of Homeland Security, Ken Zikhale Ng’oma. Zubov said investment in nuclear power to provide a reliable source of energy would help Malawi to a middle-income country.

Zikhale Ng’oma was attending the 11th International Meeting of high- ranking officials responsible for security matters. He noted that Malawi is rich in minerals which could be of interest to the Russian government for investment. “We have minerals, but due to our capacity we are failing to do the mining ourselves, which allows international mining companies to get the minerals without benefitting the country,” Ng’oma said.

In response, Zubov said Malawi has the potential to develop if it can move away from hydroelectric power to nuclear energy. He added that nuclear energy can enable the country to generate sufficient energy to even export it to its neighbours, which would help to stabilise the economy. “With a population of over 19m people, Malawi has a potential market for nuclear energy and as such we can assist with the project,” he said.

Zubov has since urged Malawi to work closely with Zimbabwe on a number of issues as currently the Russian government does not have an embassy in Malawi. If it constructed an NPP, Malawi would be the third African country to use nuclear energy, the others being South Africa with two operating units at the Koeberg NPP and Egypt, where Rosatom is building a four-unit plant.

Image: Malawi’s Minister of Homeland Security, Ken Zikhale Ng’oma has met with Russia’s deputy minister of Internal Affairs, Igor Zubov to discuss Russia's financial support for the construction of Malawi's first nuclear power plant (courtesy of Malawi24)