OREANDA-NEWS. September 3, 2008. By 2015 Belarus will build the first one of the two reactors of the nuclear power plant and the project is likely to get Lithuania interested, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky said as he met with Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas in Druskininkai.

After the meeting Sergei Sidorsky said, “We have discussed your plans and ours for building nuclear power plants. We plan to do it sooner: we plan to build the first reactor by 2015.” Apart from that, the possibility of supplying part of the energy to Lithuania was discussed with Lithuanian specialists.

Gediminas Kirkilas agreed with his counterpart, “Why should Belarus be left out of the context if the entire Europe returns to such energy schemes? Belarus itself lacks electricity as the climate change problem has no borders. It is a common problem”.

By 2016-2018 Lithuania together with Latvia, Estonia and Poland plans to build a new nuclear power plant instead of the Ignalina nuclear power plant. The latter must be shut down in late 2009 before Lithuania’s accession to the European Union. Belarus was interested in the project for the new Lithuanian nuclear station as Belarusian specialists may partake in it. It is also important that the future nuclear power plant will be built near Lake Druksiai (Lake Drisvyaty on the Belarusian side), which is located both in Belarus and Lithuania. Sergei Sidorsky underscored the importance of the ecological situation in the region.

The working meeting of the prime ministers of Belarus and Lithuania also touched upon topical issues regarding the bilateral cooperation, including cooperation in power engineering, transport and transit. The Lithuanian head of government called the Druskininkai meeting “very friendly”. In turn, Sergei Sidorsky invited Gediminas Kirkilas to visit Minsk.