Youcef Yousfi: Algeria to build first nuclear reactor before '29

Algeria will build its first nuclear energy reactor before the year 2029, Minister of Energy Youcef Yousfi said Sunday.
"Nuclear energy ... is a capital energy industry, likewise the other resources, devoted to our energy efficiency and our economic development," Yousfi said in a statement to official news agency on sidelines of the International conference of Gas Industry, held in the city of Oran.
"We are now preparing the experimental reactors and investing in the field of human expertise to reach this goal," he added.
Meanwhile, Yousfi announced an ambitious program aimed at reducing electricity consumption in houses and industrial sector.
Christopher Smith, Principal Deputy Assistant of US Secretary of Energy for Fossil Energy, said Washington was ready to boost cooperation with Algiers in the shale gas industry.
Smith, addressing the opening of the conference, said the US was keen on providing sophisticated technology for the investment in shale gas with Algeria.
"Algeria has important potentials in non-conventional resources and their exploitation needs advanced technology, which we can share with Algeria," he said.