OREANDA-NEWS. January 26, 2011.  Belarus and Russia are expected to sign a package of intergovernmental agreements on cooperation in the nuclear power plant (NPP) construction and the parallel operation of the power grids in February-March this year, First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko said in a meeting with Director General of the Rosatom Corporation Sergei Kiriyenko on 25 January.

“We have agreed that not later than February the Russian side will complete its interstate procedures in order to be able to sign the relevant intergovernmental agreements in a Union State session in March,” Vladimir Semashko said.

At the same time, he noted that at the end of 2009, Belarus completed the domestic procedures related to the NPP construction project. “At the request of the Russian side an intergovernmental agreement on the NPP construction was tied to an intergovernmental agreement on the parallel operation of the power grids. We announce that yesterday we resolved the last remaining issues and initialed the draft agreement on the parallel operation of the power grids,” Vladimir Semashko said.

The cost of the NPP construction project is estimated at USD 6-7 billion “This is the cost of the power plant only, without the necessary infrastructure,” Vladimir Semashko said.