Dhaka - Bangladesh and Russia on Tuesday began a three-day dialogue toward signing an agreement for the peaceful use of nuclear energy that could pave the way for cooperation in setting up nuclear power plants in Bangladesh, officials said.

"We will discuss the possible deal to pave the way for cooperation in this field," said MM Neazuddin, a joint secretary of Bangladesh's science and ICT ministry, who is leading the Bangladeshi side to the talks.

A two-member delegation led by Vladimir Averkeiv, the head of international cooperation at the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, gave an overview on Russian nuclear technology and capabilities on the first day of talks.

Bangladesh's government, which took office in January, is considering installation of two medium-sized nuclear power plants by the year 2017 and has opened talks with countries capable of manufacturing such plants.

The Russians will be briefed on Bangladesh's preparation for nuclear power and on infrastructure work conducted so far at the Rooppur nuclear power plant site in the northern part of the country.

A project was begun there in 1961.

Representatives from the International Atomic Energy Commission, after a visit in November last year, asked Bangladesh to improve regulatory mechanism and amend some provisions of related laws.

"We will try to have at least two nuclear power plants of 1000MW of generation capacity as early as possible," Neazuddin told the German Press Agency dpa. He added that the country's infrastructural development was in progress.

He said the draft of an agreement between Bangladesh and Russia would be referred to higher authorities for consideration after the preliminary discussion.

Bangladesh so far has agreements on peaceful use of nuclear energy with the United States, China and France. It has also opened talks with China, South Korea and France for assistance for the proposed plants.

Dhaka and Moscow will also discuss the cost and financing of the proposed project, as Bangladesh is still uncertain about how to finance the nuclear power project. A medium sized plant would require about 1.5 billion dollars.

The official said the final decision will be made after reviewing offers from other countries. (dpa)