Rosatom is eyeing Africa as one of its “priority regions” to build more nuclear reactors and expand its business.

President Vladimir Putin hosted leaders from more than 50 African countries in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in a renewed effort to increase Russia’s presence on the resource-rich continent. The nation’s trade volume with Africa last year was a fraction of that achieved by the European Union and China.

Russia has signed over a dozen intergovernmental agreements on the continent in recent years and Rosatom – the State-owned nuclear company – is cooperating with more than 20 African countries, according to its first deputy director general for corporate development and international business Kirill Komarov. Two further deals were signed with Ethiopia and Rwanda on the sidelines of the inaugural Russia-Africa summit last week.

While cost remains a hindrance in building new nuclear plants for many struggling economies, Rosatom has agreed to build the continent’s largest nuclear power plant in El-Dabaa in Egypt, with an installed capacity of 4.8 GW. It also has uranium projects in Tanzania and Namibia at different stages of implementation.

“The high cost of nuclear energy is one of many myths that, unfortunately, still surround the industry,” Komarov said in an emailed reply to questions. Rosatom offers various financial models from intergovernmental credit to build-own-operate, he said. The former was chosen by Egypt for the El-Dabaa plant.

Rosatom has mirrored Russia’s greater efforts to expand ties on the continent by diversifying its own business. The company has uranium projects in Tanzania and Namibia. From 2030, it is also looking to secure 30% of revenue from high-tech products and services including nuclear medicine, composite materials, robotics and supercomputers, according to Komarov.

The African National Congress, South Africa’s ruling party, has indicated the country is still open to a nuclear deal with Russia, despite the failure of a controversial plan under former President Jacob Zuma to build almost 10 000 MW of capacity. The nation’s energy blueprint doesn’t call for any additional nuclear capacity before 2030.