The development aspirations and the use of peaceful nuclear energy to achieve these aspirations are something that we support. It gives me great pride to say that Russia is the only country in the world to possess competencies along the entire nuclear energy supply chain, and thanks to their security and safety as well as resilience to external influence, Russia-designed nuclear power plants enjoy the highest demand across the world.

<...> As soon as 2030, we plan to launch in the Tomsk Region of Russia the world's first nuclear power system with a closed nuclear fuel cycle. This is a revolutionary invention by Russian engineers and scientists. What does it mean? It means that almost the entire amount, 95 percent of spent nuclear fuel, will be reused multiple times in reactors. This mechanism will allow us to almost fully eliminate the problem of the pile-up of radioactive waste, and most importantly, it will help us address the issue of securing supplies of uranium.

Ethiopia is our long-standing and credible partner in Africa: I believe that it was in 1898 that we established diplomatic relations between our countries. Currently, our relations are developing in a gradual way, our trade is increasing, and our intergovernmental commission is working.

Cooperation has been established in basically all the areas, including the development of the Russian energy sector, as well as our participation in projects abroad, outside the Russian Federation, and many other matters, first of all matters of nuclear safety and security across the world.

I would like to thank you for constructive cooperation, and on my part, I would like to say that we will do everything we can in order to support your work.

I thank you for accepting our invitation and attending our international event dedicated to the development of the nuclear energy sector. It is quite natural, of course, since there is — and has been for quite a while — a nuclear plant in Armenia, and, as you yourself mentioned at the forum, it provides 30 percent of the country's electricity generation. It is a considerable share, after all: 30 percent, or a third of Armenia's total energy are provided by the plant. And Rosatom is currently working on extending the lifespan of this plant, so your presence at the forum makes perfect sense.