Russia to build Indian reactors
NEW DELHI, INDIA - Russia will build up to 16 nuclear reactors for power stations in India, Russia's deputy premier said during a visit to India with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to reaffirm decades-old ties.
Russia is competing with French and U.S. firms for lucrative contracts to build nuclear power plants for energy-hungry India because Asia's third-largest economy needs to boost its supply to help sustain rapid economic growth.
"The agreement sees construction of up to 16 nuclear reactors in three locations," Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters.
Mr. Putin pledged to boost banking and technology cooperation with India, seeking to bolster ties with a Cold War ally that has been shifting focus toward the United States.
Russia wants to boost trade with India to (US) $20-billion by 2015 from the current $8-billion. Together with China and Brazil, Russia and India make up the so-called BRIC group of major emerging economies, whose global influence is rising.
The two nations also seek a greater role in stabilizing the region because both share security interests emanating from Islamist militant violence and the war in Afghanistan.
Aiming mainly to keep one of the world's biggest arms importers interested in Russian weapons, Mr. Putin offered state financial aid for the Indian telecom unit of Russian conglomerate Sistema.
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LONDON - Central Asians from western Kazakhstan to southern Tajikistan are suffering from power and energy shortages that have caused hardship and emergency situations affecting the lives of millions of people.
On October 14, several units at three power plants in northeastern Kazakhstan were shut down in an emergency that resulted in a loss of more than 1,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
It serves as an example of the kind of power failures that plague the region 30 years after the Central Asian countries gained independence and despite hundreds of millions of dollars being invested in energy infrastructure and power grids.
Some of…
