Russia and Vietnam on Sunday signed a deal worth an estimated US$5.6 billion for Vietnam's first nuclear power plant on the occasion of Russia President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Vietnam.
Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev witnessed the signing, part of an effort to boost ties between the two countries.
The Russian President said after the ceremony that was a very important project.
Vietnam wants to build eight nuclear facilities in the next two decades. Initial government plans call for four reactors, with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts and at least one of them operational in 10 years' time.
Chief of Russian state nuclear conglomerate Rosatom Sergei Kiriyenko said a 2020 timeframe for the Russian plant was "absolutely realistic".
Vietnamese leaders earlier held talks with Russian President Medvedev centred on expanding Russian presence in Vietnam, which Mr. Medvedev said is "actively developing" on various fronts.
"On all these directions Russia will assist Vietnam, which is our close friend," The Russian President said after paying his respects at the mausoleum of Vietnam's revolutionary hero Ho Chi Minh.
Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan, also on a visit to Hanoi, announced with his Vietnamese counterpart that the two countries will join forces to build two other nuclear reactors.
Fast-growing Vietnam faces energy shortages, and foreign businesses have expressed concern about a lack of energy and other infrastructure.
Moscow is willing to provide a loan to help finance the Russian plant's construction, Medvedev's top foreign policy aide Sergei Prikhodko said at the Kremlin in comments released Friday.
Ties with Vietnam date back to the Soviet era when the Soviet Union became the country's main benefactor after the Vietnam War ended in 1975.
Medvedev said their shared history was a firm foundation to build upon.
"This seals our partnership. The documents here are of secondary importance," he said.
According to the Kremlin, Russia is only the 25th-largest investor in Vietnam.
Vietnamese President President Nguyen Minh Triet said Vietnam was grateful "for all the assistance that Russia rendered in the past", and expressed the hope that investment cooperation would intensify.
The two sides signed additional agreements on construction of a hydro power station and cooperation in the oil sector.
Vietnam and Russia had also been expected to express political support for plans by BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, to acquire the Vietnamese assets of British Petroleum.
But Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said that memorandum had not yet been finalised.
