Civil society groups in Niger are holding a public discussion in the capital Niamey about the country's future contracts with French nuclear energy firm Areva. Niger and Areva are still in closed-door negotiations on mining contracts that expired in December. Areva wants to continue to pay a five percent tax rate to mine uranium instead of the market rate of 12 percent. RFI spoke to Ibrahima Aidara, the Economic Governance Program Manager at the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, about how the negotiations are faring.