RIYADH: Opec kingpin Saudi Arabia on Tuesday signed a cooperation agreement with France on peaceful nuclear energy development to help meet the kingdom's rising energy demand, an official statement said.
The agreement will enable Saudi Arabia to compare available options for its long-term program to build alternative energy plants for electricity production and water desalination, said Hashim Yamani, president of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE).
In a statement, KA-CARE said the pact, signed by Yamani and French Industry and Power Minister Eric Besson, "allows institutions in both countries to enhance cooperation in the fields of production, use, and transfer of knowledge of peaceful uses of nuclear energy."
Yamani said Saudi Arabia had decided to turn to alternative energy resources, such as atomic and solar energy, to meet local demand for energy, which is rising by eight percent annually.
Demand for electricity in Saudi Arabia is expected to triple by 2032, which will give rise to the need for energy plants with a total of 80 gws of installed capacity, the statement said.
The Saudi cabinet in July gave the green light on the accord with France, which could open the way for French aid in the development of nuclear power in the oil-rich kingdom.
The pact was first proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in talks with King Abdullah in June 2007 in Paris.
France submitted the first draft when Sarkozy visited Riyadh in January 2008.
Saudi Arabia is also studying similar pacts with a number of other countries including Russia.
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