OREANDA-NEWS. October 01, 2012. At their meeting on Wednesday and Thursday in Vilnius, Lithuania, Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius confirmed their support for continuing preparations for the construction of Visaginas nuclear plant.

The prime ministers said they support the continuing of cooperation between Eesti Energia AS, UAB Visagino atomine elektrine, AS Latvenergo and – as strategic investor – Hitachi for the signing of a concession agreement. The premiers also stated that a joint venture must be established to implement the project.

Prime Minister Ansip said Estonia’s energy security would be greater if its energy portfolio in future also contained alternatives to oil shale and renewable energy. He said the Visaginas nuclear power plant project continued to be very important for Estonia.

The prime minister also said he deemed it important for the parties in the project to resolve all matters related to project risks beforehand. “The condition for possible investment decisions on the part of Eesti Energia is the profitability of the project and the mitigation of risks related to establishing the nuclear plant,” said Ansip. In planning further steps, the results of the referendum to be held in Lithuania on 14 October must also be considered, he said.

The meeting also addressed matters related to Rail Baltic. The prime ministers acknowledged the preparations made by a joint working group to establish the project for the high-speed pan-Baltic railway and decided that a joint venture based in Riga must be founded by the start of next year.

Ansip said at the meeting that it was important to complete preparations so that EU funding could be involved in the construction phase. To do so, the quality of preparatory work must be the same in all countries by the end of 2015.

The meeting also touched on matters related to developing a cross-border digital market and defence cooperation. The prime ministers said that to better ensure regional security, the 2% level of defence spending (with respect to GDP) must be achieved in all of the Baltic states.