Egypt's Minister of State for Military Production Mohamed El-Assar attended on Saturday the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding between the National Authority for Military Production and the Proton Technologies consortium on cooperation for manufacturing systems of pipelines used in the set-up of nuclear stations.

The consortium groups together the Russian Tubes 2000 company and the Spanish Tubacex company, said El-Assar in a press statement.

Under the deal, both sides will cooperate in the manufacturing of key components needed for making the pipelines systems that will be used in the implementation of Dabaa nuclear station, he added.

Expected to be completed within 12 years, the Dabaa nuclear plant will be the largest Russian-Egyptian project since the construction of the High Dam in the 1960s. 

The deal comes within a framework of keenness by the military production ministry to support all sustainable development efforts across all domains in Egypt, El-Assar said, adding that the ministry welcomes cooperation with any party for implementing development and national projects in Egypt.

Tubacex CEO Jesus Esmoris said that the consortium will present the authority with an integrated feasibility study about the project.

Esmoris added that the consortium is keen on participating with the Egyptian side in this project.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Tubes 2000 Aleksey Gorokhov said that Egypt is witnessing marked development in the industrial sector; a state of affairs that led the consortium to participate in the Dabaa project through offering its experience and technology.

According to the agreement signed in 2015, Russia will loan Egypt the $25 billion needed to finance the building and operation of the plant.

Egypt is to pay the loan back at an interest rate of three percent annually, with installment payments beginning in 2029.