Russia’s nuclear power industry has been increasing the amount of business it does with “friendly countries and regions” including China, the Middle East and Africa, the head of state nuclear power corporation Rosatom said on Monday.

During a meeting with president Vladimir Putin, Rosatom director-general Alexey Likhachev said Rosatom has moved into second place in terms of uranium reserves and is among the top three in all stages in the nuclear fuel cycle.

According to a transcript of the meeting released by the Kremlin, Likhachev thanked Putin for his support in helping Rosatom set up a joint venture will extract uranium ore from the Budyonovskoye deposit in Kazakhstan.

Likhachev told Putin there is potential for growth in the energy sector in general, and especially in the nuclear industry in Asia and the Middle East, “and they just want our technologies and our supplies”.