During a visit by Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said the two sides were nearing agreement on Russia winning the nuclear energy contract worth up to 20 billion dollars.

A consortium led by Russia's Atomstroixport partnership was the sole bidder in the tender launched in September to build a 4,800 megawatt nuclear power plant at Akkuyu on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

"We expect our proposal will be forwarded from the tendering commission to the Turkish government in the near future," Shmatko told reporters, according to Russian news agencies.

"According to different estimates, such a project could be worth 18-20 billion dollars," he added.

Turkey plans to build three nuclear power plants in hopes of preventing a possible energy shortage and reducing dependence on foreign supplies. But the project has met with fierce resistance from environmentalists.

Shmatko also said that Russia and Turkey were also discussing a long term contract worth 60 billion dollars over a period of 15 years to supply Russian electricity to Turkey.

"The volume of supplies of electricity from Russia to Turkey could reach 60 billion dollars over 15 years," he said.

Russia is already Turkey's biggest trading partner and bilateral trade was worth 37.8 billion dollars last year. Moscow also supplies 63 percent of Turkey's gas and 29 percent of the petrol.

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