Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday Russia and Turkey have signed a deal to build Turkey's first nuclear-power plant, a project estimated to cost up to $20 billion, and the deal with Russia will be ratified by the countries' parliaments, the Ihlas News Agency, or IHA, reports.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday Russia and Turkey have signed a deal to build Turkey's first nuclear-power plant, a project estimated to cost up to $20 billion, and the deal with Russia will be ratified by the countries' parliaments, the Ihlas News Agency, or IHA, reports.

The deal, signed by Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz during a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, calls for co-operation on building and operating a nuclear-power station on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

Erdogan said the nuclear power plant project will be completed in about seven years.

Turkish state-run power provider Tetas on Nov. 20, 2009 canceled a tender to build and operate the country's first nuclear power station. Tetas had been considering a report on the nuclear tender, which was held Sept. 24, 2008 .

A consortium comprising Russian companies Atomstroyexport and OAO Inter RAO EES (IRAO.RS) and Turkish company Park Teknik was the sole bidder in the tender to build and operate a 4,000-megawatt nuclear power station in Akkuyu, near the Turkish Mediterranean port of Mersin .

In a joint news conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Erdogan said Turkey aims to reach a $100 billion foreign trade volume with Russia within five years.

Erdogan said Turkey and Russia have signed a total of 17 deals Wednesday, including energy to agriculture deals and a visa exemption deal with Russia , which was one of the important steps.

Russian President Medvedev said Turkey and Russia have agreed to develop the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline project, which aims to transport oil from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean across Turkey , avoiding the use of ships to cross the busy Istanbul Strait .

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said Tuesday that the construction of a planned Turkish oil pipeline to be built from the Black Sea port of Samsun to Ceyhan port on the Mediterranean is expected to cost $3 billion.

" Russia and Turkey aren't so-called partners, they are actually strategic partners," Medvedev said.

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