Rosatom, VinAtom may sign deal to set up Center for Nuclear Science and Technology in June - Russian deputy PM

HANOI. April 7 (Interfax) - Russia's Rosatom State Corporation and Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute (VinAtom) may sign by June a contract to set up a Center for Nuclear Science and Technology in Vietnam's Dong Nai province, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said at a meeting with the institute's senior officials on Friday.

"We view the institute as a promising partner [...] as regards the creation for a Center for Nuclear Science and Technology at the state-of-the-art research reactor in the Dong Nai province together with the Rosatom State Corporation. The Russian contractor is currently preparing a tender offer. I'd propose setting a joint date for signing the contract. For our part, we will instruct Rosatom to ensure that the contract is signed on a date that is highly important to both of our countries if the tender is opened on April 18," Chernyshenko said.

A monument marking the centenary of first Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh's visit to St. Petersburg will be unveiled in the city on June 30, he said.

"Although the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum will take place on the eve of this event, it seems to us that it would be very symbolic to time it to coincide with the unveiling of the monument," Chernyshenko said, adding that it is also necessary to resolve the issue of transactions with Russian contractors in conditions of anti-Russian sanctions.

A site for the new center has already been chosen, decisions on its configuration and source of financing have been made, and the project's tentative feasibility study has been finalized, Chernyshenko said.

VinAtom President Tran Chi Thanh said that the Vietnamese side would try to sign the contract by the aforementioned date.