- KIEV -- (Agence France Presse) Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma
promised to stand by a 1995 promise to close the Chernobyl nuclear reactor
in 2000, the head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD), Horst Koehler, said Saturday.
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- "The closure of Chernobyl is a most
urgent and necessary task," Koehler said.
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- The EBRD president said he had Kuchma's
clear agreement to close the plant in line with a memorandum of understanding
between Kiev and the G7 group of major economic powers.
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- He said he had asked Kuchma whether he
intended to fulfil the 1995 memorandum, and the Ukrainian leader "clearly
said yes."
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- In 1995, Ukraine and the G7 signed an
agreement to close down the plant by the end of 2000 in exchange for $3.1
billion in aid from the G7 countries, including $5 million to develop
other energy programs.
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- The 1995 memorandum set out the completion
of two other nuclear plants, at Rivne and Khmelnitsky, in the west of
the country, to make up for the shortfall of electricity from the closure
of Chernobyl.
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- Kiev has made regular threats not to
shut down Chernobyl if the international community fails to help finance
the other two reactors.
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- Koehler said after a meeting with Kuchma
and Prime Minister Valery Pustovoitenko on Thursday that nothing had yet
been decided by the EBRD on the issue of international funding for the
reactors.
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- Chernobyl's Number 4 reactor exploded
on April 26, 1986, spewing out a cloud of radioactive elements over much
of northern Europe. The accident was the worst civilian nuclear accident
on record.
-
- The official death toll released by Moscow,
then capital of the Soviet Union, was 31 although unofficial reports put
the total at several thousand.
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- Koehler also called on Kiev to work more
closely with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on its economic reforms,
which he said should include a simplified tax code and more investment
in the energy sector.
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- The IMF has released $335 million to
Kiev as part of a $2.2-billion package to encourage structural reforms.
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- The EBRD currently has 28 projects in
Ukraine, including 20 in the private sector, with a budget of $750 million.
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- He also congratulated the government,
however, on its reaction to the economic crisis in neighboring Russia following
the August devaluation of the ruble.
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- He said: "I do think the Ukrainian
government have managed the crisis pretty well."
-
- Kohler is due to head on to Moscow on
Sunday for a two-day official visit. ( (c) 1998 Agence France Presse)
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- http://www.russiatoday.com/rtoday/news/19.htm
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