From AFP: Russia Wednesday signed a multi-billion-dollar deal to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant as President Dmitry Medvedev hailed the accord as a sign of expanding ties with the NATO member.

"This agreement opens a new page in our cooperation… Our talks today showed that Turkey and Russia are strategic partners not only in words but in deeds," Medvedev told a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the signing ceremony.

The deal to build and operate the plant at Akkuyu, on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, was one of some 20 agreements signed by the two countries which Medvedev said would generate about 25 billion dollars (19.7 billion euros) of investment. …

Wednesday’s deal "is a very big contract," Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom, told reporters. "An approximate price of such a project is around 18-20 billion dollars."

Kiriyenko said Russia would own the plant, holding "no less than a controlling stake."

"Russia has never before owned a nuclear power station outside its territory," he said.  (photo: Reuters)

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