Moscow, 21 November: Russia and South Africa have signed an agreement on cooperation in the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes. The document was signed in Johannesburg by the co- chairman of the joint intergovernmental committee on trade and economic cooperation, Russian Natural Resources Minister Yuriy Trutnev, and its co-chairwoman, South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

"The agreement permits the supply of nuclear energy technology for peaceful purposes, in particular medicine," noted Trutnev. "Now Rosatom [Russian Federal Agency for Atomic Energy] can develop an action plan with its South African colleagues," he said. "Before the agreement was signed this was not possible."

According to the Russian minister, the agreement has taken six years to draft but has been signed ahead of schedule. Initially it was planned that the document would be signed in March 2005.