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Russia to Inaugurate Nuclear Sciences University in Egypt

The National Research Nuclear University MEPhI. (The official website of the university)
The National Research Nuclear University MEPhI. (The official website of the university)
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Russia to Inaugurate Nuclear Sciences University in Egypt

The National Research Nuclear University MEPhI. (The official website of the university)
The National Research Nuclear University MEPhI. (The official website of the university)

A Russian official has unveiled his country’s plan to inaugurate a branch of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI in Egypt, as part of the construction of the first Egyptian nuclear power plant in El-Dabaa on the Mediterranean coast.

Russian Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Konstantin Mogilevsky said on Monday that there is an initial decision to inaugurate a branch for the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI in Egypt, TASS reported.

The Russian official didn’t determine the inauguration date.

This would enable the training of the employees to work at the nuclear power station, he added.

Mogilevsky said there are plans to open representative offices for Russian universities in some African states and to implement joint education programs. Yet, he didn’t reveal the name of the countries.

The Russian Embassy in Cairo confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat Mogilevsky’s claims, but it didn’t provide further details.

El-Dabaa NPP will be constructed in the city of El-Dabaa, some 300 km northwest of Cairo.

The plant will comprise four units with generation III+ VVER-1200 pressurized water reactors.

The NPP is being constructed by Rosatom in accordance with contracts that entered into force in December 2017 based on an inter-governmental agreement signed by Egypt and Russia in 2015.

The cost of the project is $30 billion, 85 percent of which is financed through a $25 billion Russian loan.

The first reactor is expected to begin operations in 2024, according to the Egyptian presidency.

Rosatom laid in July the concrete foundations for the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant. Its construction was scheduled to start in 2020 but was hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Egypt seeks to “diversify” power generating sources so that the electricity produced from nuclear stations reaches nine percent of the overall energy mix, official data showed.

Egypt and Russia cooperate in the training of researchers and students on peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Egyptian Higher Education and Scientific Research Minister Ayman Ashour held talks in September with the head of the international cooperation department of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia Dmitry Kamanin.

The talks focused on means to activate a cooperation agreement signed with Moscow on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.