France's Trade Minister Franck Riester is scheduled to arrive in the Polish capital on Tuesday for talks with officials including Climate and Environment Minister Michał Kurtyka and Deputy Infrastructure Minister Marcin Horała, Poland's PAP news agency reported, citing the French foreign ministry.
Accompanying Riester will be Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO of France's state-controlled utility EDF, who is set to discuss nuclear power technology with the Polish government's pointman on strategic energy infrastructure, Piotr Naimski, the biznesalert.pl website reported, citing the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna newspaper.
In addition to potential nuclear energy team-ups, the Polish-French talks are expected to focus on issues including support for efforts to move to a carbon-neutral economy, according to the PAP news agency.
France in December officially said it was interested in helping Poland develop its nuclear power sector, according to biznesalert.pl.
A year ago, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the Polish government spokesman said his country was in talks with the United States, France and Japan to help it build its first nuclear power plant.
Piotr Müller told state broadcaster TVP at the time that negotiations on developing nuclear power in the country were shifting into higher gear, with the final choice of technology expected to be made sometime in 2021.
Müller added that Poland’s first nuclear power plant would be up and running within a decade once construction got under way.
Poland in October signed an intergovernmental deal with the United States to work together in developing nuclear energy.
Under the document, Poland and the United States are expected to come up with a joint report on the basis of which the Polish government will make a final choice of international partner to carry out a program to develop nuclear energy in the country, officials have said.
In June last year, the Polish and US presidents in Washington signed a joint statement under which the United States pledged to help Poland develop its civil nuclear power sector and 5G technology.
In June 2019, Poland and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in civil nuclear energy.
Poland's Naimski, who is Secretary of State for Strategic Energy Infrastructure, said in mid-2019 that nuclear power would account for around 20 percent of Poland’s energy mix by 2045.
Piotr Naimski. Photo: PR/MS
(gs/pk)
Source: biznesalert.pl, dziennik.pl, PAP