MOSCOW, August 9. /TASS/. Russia and Turkey have agreed on the necessary decisions to implement the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant project, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel on Tuesday.

"Currently we have agreed on all the necessary decisions for the Akkuyu NPP project in order to implement it," he said.

The President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a press conference after the talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, that Turkey intends to grant the status of a "strategic investment" to the Akkuyu NPP project.

According to him, this way the Akkuyu project will take place among a number of other similar projects in the country and will profit from all the necessary benefits that are given with this status.

The intergovernmental Russian-Turkish agreement on construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant was signed on May 12, 2010. This project includes construction of four power units (VVER-1200) with a capacity of 1.2 GW each in accordance with the Russian project "NPP-2006".

Due to tensions in Russian-Turkish relations, the future of Akkuyu NPP project was under question.

In June, Russian Nuclear Agency Rosstom said that the first concreting at Akkuyu NPP was planned in 2018. The first block is expected to be put into operation in 2023.