Russia and Belarus agreed to sign the inter governmental agreement in the Q1 of 2009 during talks in the end of January between the Belarusian government and a Rosatom delegation.

Rosatom said that "The signing of this agreement opens up the possibility for the parties to switch to direct negotiations on a contract for the construction of the first Belarusian nuclear power plant on a turnkey basis." Belarus plans to build a nuclear power plant with a capacity of 2,000 MW, with the first unit to come online in 2016 and the second in 2018. The plant is expected to have Generation III water moderated reactors.

Belarus earlier announced a tender for the plant and sent invitations to Rosatom, French& German firm Areva and US-Japanese company Westinghouse Toshiba to participate in the tender. Rosatom and Areva eventually confirmed their intention to participate, while no official response was received from Westinghouse, reported RIA Novosti.