New Delhi, Feb. 12: India and Russia today moved closer to inking a pact for the construction of four additional nuclear reactors at Kudankulam atomic plant in Tamil Nadu for which discussions have been going on for a year now.

Both countries have also decided on greater cooperation in the fields of defence and energy in a bid to further strengthen bilateral relations that would figure when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets his Russian counterpart Victor Zubkov.

“We expressed our satisfaction at the status of our ongoing collaboration in the fields of science and technology, space and civil nuclear cooperation. We have finalised negotiations in regard to reaching an agreement on cooperation in the construction of additional nuclear power plants in India,” said Singh’s opening statement at a joint media interaction with the Russian Prime Minister.

Both sides have been working on the deal to build four more reactors for the Kudankulam atomic plant for over a year now. Sources said Moscow and Delhi had signed the preliminary draft of the deal before Zubkov left for India. Two reactors are under construction but they have nothing to do with these talks.

However, the deal cannot be finalised because of the restrictions on India imposed by the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

India has to move the NSG for a waiver after atomic watchdog IAEA finalises the safeguard talks regarding the India-US nuclear deal, now stuck for political reasons.

Russia is building two 1,000MW reactors at Kudankulam as part of a deal signed in 1988. Russia said in January last year that it intended to build four more reactors at the site.

Both Singh and Zubkov also stressed the need for greater cooperation in the field of defence.

“We reaffirmed our commitment to build upon our defence relations, an important pillar of our strategic partnership,” Zubkov said.

Zubkov’s visit has come within three months of Singh’s trip to Russia last November.

India and Russia will also step up cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector.

“We agreed that there was vast potential for mutually beneficial cooperation in the area of hydrocarbons. I expressed my hope that ongoing discussions between our oil and gas companies would result in finalisation of joint projects in India, Russia and third world countries,” Singh said.

The two countries also underscored the need to diversify the trade basket and double their trade to $10 billion by 2010 through a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.

“If we grow by 30 per cent per year, we might achieve the trade figure of $10 billion by 2010,” Zubkov said at a meeting of the India-Russia Forum on Trade and Investment.