(Ottawa) Canada is helping finance two new CANDU nuclear reactors in Romania, which Romania’s energy minister says will help reduce Russia’s ability to use its energy exports as a weapon.

Canadian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson signed a $3 billion export financing agreement with his Romanian counterpart, Sebastian Burduja, on Tuesday in Ottawa.

Canadian funding is limited to what Romania’s national company Nuclearelectrica, which operates the Cernavodă nuclear power plant, will spend to purchase equipment and expertise from Canadian companies.

Minister Burduja says the deal is partly about climate change, as it will allow Romania to burn less coal to produce electricity.

But above all, according to him, it is about distancing ourselves from Russian energy sources. Romania is also in talks with other countries in the region so that they too reduce their dependence on Russia, the minister indicated.

Two Canadian-made Candu reactors already provide a quarter of Romania’s electricity; the two additional reactors will increase this figure to almost a third of the national supply.