MINSK - Belarus and Russia signed here Wednesday a general contract for developing the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) on Wednesday.

Belarus and Russia signed the deal under which Russian companies will build the first nuclear power plant in Belarus with financing from Moscow. The contract was signed during the meeting of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Belarusian counterpart Mikhail Myasnikovich in Minsk.

According to the contract, Russia is allocating a 10-billion-US-dollar loan to finance the development of the Russian designed two-block nuclear station with up to 2.4 gigawatt in capacity.

The construction and setup of the first block will be finished in 2017. The second will be completed in 2019 and launched in 2020. The NPP will be located in the Ostrovets district of the Grodno region.