HARARE, January 22. /TASS/. Using the developments of the Russian fuel and energy complex is one of the priorities for Zimbabwe in its bilateral cooperation with Moscow, Russian Ambassador to the African country Nikolay Krasilnikov said in an interview with TASS.

"One of the priorities for Zimbabwe in our bilateral cooperation is to use the capabilities and developments of the Russian fuel and energy complex to solve the country’s fundamental problems, including a guaranteed supply of affordable fuel to the population," the ambassador noted.

"Without having access to the ocean coast Zimbabweans have to bear high costs for transporting goods, which increases production costs. Solving problems in this area is the key to solving many of the bottlenecks in the Zimbabwean economy," he added.

"Relevant issues are being considered as part of the intergovernmental commission on economic, trade, scientific and technical cooperation, which is headed by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, Alexey Kozlov, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Zimbabwe, Frederick Shava," Krasilnikov said.

According to him, there are good prospects for the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement concluded last summer.

"In practice, we started with a discussion of the possibilities of non-energy applications of isotopes in medicine and agriculture. In the meantime, Zimbabwean students are already studying at our universities on scholarships from the Rosatom state corporation to become specialists, in particular in the field of construction and operation of nuclear power plants," the diplomat noted.