1. Niger and Russia have advanced discussions on nuclear and solar energy cooperation, with ministers meeting in Niamey on 2 October 2026 as Niger’s dispute with French uranium company Orano continues.

Niger’s state news agency ANP reported that Energy Minister Seyni Alzouma and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Tsivilev, discussed energy projects during the first session of their countries’ intergovernmental commission. Their account outlined cooperation plans but announced no reactor construction timetable or uranium sale to Russia.

Alzouma said Niger needed reliable, competitively priced energy in sufficient quantities, according to ANP. He called for Russian investment to support technology transfer, training, local industry and employment.

The minister referred to an existing memorandum with Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom and a subsequent roadmap for peaceful nuclear technology. He also said a memorandum had been concluded with a Russian company for a solar power project, ANP reported.

The nuclear relationship predates the latest talks. Interfax reported on 28 July 2025, citing Russia’s energy ministry, that Rosatom and Niger’s energy ministry had signed a cooperation memorandum covering peaceful nuclear energy and related technologies.

That September, Niger proposed Russian participation in a nuclear power project. In a report published on 25 September 2025, Interfax said Mines Minister Ousmane Abarchi had proposed two reactors in a project described as having a capacity of 2,000 megawatts. He expressed readiness to develop it with Rosatom under International Atomic Energy Agency oversight. The report described a proposal, rather than an agreed construction programme.

Niger’s uranium sector remains subject to a separate ownership dispute. The Associated Press reported in June 2025 that the government had announced plans to nationalise Somaïr, the uranium venture operated by Orano.

Orano said an arbitral tribunal constituted under the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes issued a decision on 23 September 2025 ordering Niger not to sell, transfer or facilitate third-party transfers of disputed uranium produced by Somaïr.

Niger’s President Abdourahamane Tiani subsequently indicated that some uranium could be returned. TV5MONDE reported that, in an interview broadcast by Niger’s national television on 13 February 2026, he offered to return Orano’s share of production preceding the takeover, while maintaining that later production belonged to Niger.

At the latest talks, Tsivilev also met Tiani. According to ANP’s account of the Russian minister’s remarks, the president asked the delegation to accelerate its work before a Russia–Africa summit in Moscow in October. Neither ANP account announced a settlement of the uranium dispute.