All news

Bolivia to spend over $2 bln for peaceful nuclear energy development - Morales

BUENOS AIRES, October 3. /TASS/. The government of Bolivia will allocate from the country’s budget over $2 billion for the development of the peaceful nuclear energy program, Bolivian President Evo Morales said.

According to Morales, the financial means intended to be allocated within the period of up to the year of 2025 will be channeled into the implementation of a program aimed for the peaceful nuclear energy use in the spheres of electricity, medicine and agriculture.

The first nuclear research power unit will appear in the country’s western province of La Paz, which will “be the center for the nuclear energy development” in the country, the Bolivian leader said.

“I believe that a country, which has control over energy, is a free and sovereign country,” Morales said. “The best way toward the freedom is the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.”

The Bolivian president said that some countries capable of nuclear technologies use them for military purposes, while Bolivia is interested in peaceful atom “in order not to kill, but to save lives.”

Morales also said that the development of nuclear energy must be the priority for Bolivia, no matter who would win at the upcoming presidential election this month.

According to public opinion polls, incumbent President Morales will easily win the presidential election, scheduled in Bolivia for October 12, leaving all his political contenders behind in the first round of the elections.