Russian officials signaled support Tuesday for a proposed nuclear cooperation deal between German industrial giant Siemens and Russia's atomic energy agency.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in a meeting with Siemens' visiting CEO Peter Loescher that Russia was "ready to transfer some single projects to full-fledged cooperation in nuclear energy between Siemens and Rosatom."
Putin also suggested a Russian-German joint venture could target the growing world market for commercial nuclear energy.
Loescher said later at a news conference with Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko that the two sides had agreed to set up a working group to look at the specifics of such an agreement.
A full deal could be reached by the end of April, Loescher said.
Kiriyenko said now was a good time for the companies to be building a strategic partnership, as "the crisis is a break between periods of growth."
"We are confident that joining our potential and efforts will strengthen Rosatom's and Siemens' standing on the world market," he said.
Siemens has long ties with Russia and has worked with Rosatom on several projects since the 1990s. Both companies are involved in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Bulgaria.
Russia in recent years has pushed hard to break into the worldwide civilian nuclear energy market, which has long been dominated by the United States.
Washington and Moscow last year reached a civilian nuclear cooperation deal that would have paved the way for Russian companies to sign lucrative deals with U.S. companies. But the U.S. shelved the deal in response to Russia's invasion of Georgia in August.