An artist’s impression of the nuclear plant.
Under the deal, signed between the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) in the presence of UAE President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, the first 1,400 megawatt plant will begin providing electricity by 2017.
The remaining three will be operational by 2020. The South Korean group beat two other bidders to win the world’s biggest and the region’s first such deal.
“Our relationship with South Korea, which has seen sustained growth in recent years, has ushered into a new era of strategic partnership which will serve interest of the two countries,” Shaikh Khalifa said in a statement on Wam.
Lee said he was grateful to the UAE for forging a strategic partnership.
ENEC Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Al Hammadi said the corporation found KEPCO would be able to provide experience and transfer knowledge.“We were impressed with the KEPCO team’s world-class safety performance, and its demonstrated ability to meet the UAE program goals,” he said, adding that the nature of the project would require a partnership that endured nearly 100 years.
The UAE expects power demand to reach 40,000MW by 2020.
Present at the ceremony were Shaikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President’s Representative, and General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
The joint cooperation agreements were inked by UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and South Korea Minister of Knowledge Economy Choi Kyung-hwan.
Under the agreement, the two countries will set up a higher committee and sub-committees to facilitate cooperation in fields including energy, sustainability, information technology and communications and human resource development.
Three complementary agreements were also signed in these fields.
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