MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. South Africa’s former President Thabo Mbeki has discussed joint projects on the upgrade of coal power plants in the republic during his visit to Moscow.

"Yes, we discussed it," he told TASS. "Right now, we are working on the upgrade of coal power plants in South Africa that ensure 95% of the country’s energy consumption. Many of them have become outdated, which is why we are now facing an energy crisis," ex-president explained.

"The volume of electricity produced by those plants is decreasing, and it is necessary to take steps to upgrade them," he noted. "Meanwhile, Russia produces much electricity by coal plants in Siberia. We see that those Russian technologies run faultlessly and this is why we are very much interested in them. So we are exploring this experience now and we are working on using it in South Africa," Mbeki said.