Al-Badr: 'Kuwait Fund' is a partner in enhancing nuclear safety at Chernobyl
Rashid Al-Badr confirmed that the Kuwait Fund is a long-term partner in enhancing nuclear safety at the Chernobyl plant, participating in a donors' conference in Paris.
Translated by Qiyas from الجريدة — Original source
The Acting Director General of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, Rashid Al-Bader, confirmed on Monday that the Kuwait Fund serves as a long-term partner in international efforts to enhance nuclear safety at the Chernobyl plant over nearly four decades.
This statement came during Al-Bader’s address at the Donor Commitments Conference to support the rehabilitation of the New Safe Confinement at Ukraine’s Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, held on Monday in Paris, the French capital.
Al-Bader noted that “since 1988, the Fund has provided four grants to support nuclear safety initiatives at the plant site, totaling approximately $15 million.”
In this regard, Al-Bader expressed his hope to continue cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and other international partners to review the proposed reform program, its financing requirements, and the necessary arrangements for its effective implementation.
The conference, organized by the governments of Ukraine and France and the EBRD, aims to mobilize $560 million (approximately €500 million) in international funding to restore and repair the New Safe Confinement and return it to full operational capacity following severe damage inflicted by a drone attack in February 2025.
For his part, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, Denys Shmyhal, stated that “his country is working in collaboration with the EBRD to develop the necessary technical foundations to restore the full operational efficiency of the confinement facility,” emphasizing the importance of completing repair and restoration works by 2030, as indicated by initial estimates, to prevent corrosion of the facility’s steel structure and ensure the continued performance of its containment and ventilation systems in their vital safety-related functions.
For his part, French Minister of Economy, Finance, Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, Roland Lescure, affirmed that “France, as President of the Group of Seven (G7) and as a long-standing donor, has placed this issue at the top of the international agenda following the G7’s repeated calls for a coordinated international response to mobilize financial support, both within and outside the group.”
On her part, Odile Renaud-Basso, President of the EBRD, said that the conference would serve as “a crucial opportunity to examine the latest technical studies and proposed repair and restoration strategies, including indicative timelines and financing needs, as well as to review existing international commitments in order to secure new major pledges to support the repair and restoration program for the nuclear facility.”
The Kuwaiti delegation participating in the conference is led by Acting Director General Rashid Al-Bader and includes Ahmad Al-Sabah, Observer for the Operations Department for Central and Eastern European Countries, with the presence of Kuwait’s Ambassador to France, Abdullah Al-Shahin.
