Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development reaffirms commitment to supporting nuclear safety at Chernobyl
Rashid Al-Badr reaffirms the Fund's commitment to supporting the rehabilitation of the Chernobyl Safe Confinement facility in cooperation with international partners.
Translated by Qiyas from سرمد — Original source
The Acting Director General of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, Rashid Al-Badr, confirmed on Monday that the Kuwait Fund has been a long-term partner in international efforts to enhance nuclear safety at the Chernobyl site over the past four decades.
This statement was made by Al-Badr during the Kuwait Fund’s participation in the Donors’ Conference for the New Safe Confinement rehabilitation at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, held on Monday in Paris, the French capital.
Al-Badr noted that “since 1988, the Fund has provided four grants to support nuclear safety initiatives at the plant site, totaling approximately $15 million.”
He emphasized that “these contributions reflect Kuwait’s enduring commitment to international cooperation and its recognition that nuclear safety and environmental protection are shared responsibilities that transcend national borders,” reiterating the Kuwait Fund’s readiness and willingness “to explore the possibility of providing additional financial contributions to support remediation efforts.”
In this regard, Al-Badr expressed hope for continued cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and other international partners to review the proposed rehabilitation 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 rehabilitate the New Safe Confinement to full operational capacity following severe damage sustained from 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 with the EBRD to develop the necessary technical foundations to restore the full operational capacity of the confinement facility,” stressing the importance of completing repair and restoration works by 2030, as indicated by preliminary estimates, to prevent corrosion of the facility’s steel structure and ensure the continued operation of its containment and ventilation systems in their vital safety functions.
For his part, French Minister of Economy, Finance, Industry, Energy, and Digital Sovereignty, Roland Lescure, affirmed that “France, as President of the Group of Seven (G7) and as a long-time 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, stated that the conference would serve as “a crucial opportunity to examine the latest technical studies and proposed restoration and rehabilitation strategies, including indicative timelines and financing needs, as well as to review existing international commitments to secure new major pledges to support the rehabilitation and restoration program of the nuclear facility.”
The Kuwaiti delegation attending the conference is led by Acting Director General Rashid Al-Badr and includes Ahmad Al-Sabah, Observer for the Operations Department for Central and Eastern European Countries, alongside Kuwait’s Ambassador to France, Abdullah Al-Shahin.
