The prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are to sign a joint declaration on building a new nuclear power plant in Lithuania, the spokeswoman for Lithuania's premier said on Tuesday. "Premier Gediminas Kirkilas discussed the declaration with Latvian head of government Aigars Kalvitis and Estonia's Andrus Ansip during the recent EU summit in Brussels," the spokeswoman Nemira Pumprickaite told AFP.
"It is planned that the declaration will be signed on July 6 in Vilnius, when all four premiers will be celebrating Lithuania's statehood day," Pumprickaite added.
The new nuclear power plant is estimated to start operations in 2015.
It would replace the Chernobyl-type Ignalina nuclear facility, which Lithuania has pledged to shut down by 2010.
The Baltic countries and Poland, which are heavily dependant on Russia for energy supplies, have collaborated on the project as they see a new nuclear plant as one of the ways to increase energy independance.
