KIEV, UKRAINE (BNO NEWS) -- Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday signed an agreement for the construction of a nuclear fuel plant in Ukraine.

TVEL, the Russian fuel company, signed the deal with the Ukrainian state concern Nuclear Fuel in Kiev during a committee meeting on economic cooperation of the Russian-Ukrainian intergovernmental commission.

"This is very important for us because it is a great step to the closed nuclear fuel cycle in our country. We have 15 nuclear reactors, and we should have our own nuclear fuel," Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Yuri Boyko said.

The agreement was approved on September 22, when the Ukrainian cabinet announced TVEL as the tender winner for the construction of a nuclear fuel plant in the country. The nuclear facility is expected to initiate operations in 2014.

The agreement represents the intention of both nations to integrate its nuclear power industries. Russia and Ukraine intend to establish a joint venture on uranium enrichment. The venture will be similar to the one by Russia and Kazakhstan in Angarsk in East Siberia.

Also on Wednesday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Ukrainian President Yanukovych and initiated a long-expected agreement on the transit of oil as part of the latest round of the Russian-Ukrainian intergovernmental trade commission meetings.

Last Thursday, Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, signed a deal with Ukraine and Slovakia for the transit of nuclear materials via Ukraine. The agreement establishes an international legal framework for nuclear fuel transportation that will be performed by the Russian company TVEL.

TVEL will transport the nuclear materials to operating and planned power units of Slovak nuclear power plants. With this agreement, the three nations intend to ensure uninterrupted fuel supplies to Slovakia.

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