India and Russia have decided to accelerate their economic ties and agreed to factor in New Delhi's liability concerns in their techno-commercial negotiations for units III and IV of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.

After talks with the visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin in New Delhi on Monday, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters at a joint press conference that both the sides discussed the preparatory work for units III and IV.cost of electricty has risne because of delay...at the end societ as whole and people invidualy have tp pay for it.

Saying that a techno-commercial agreement is being negotiated, he expressed hope that a mutually satisfactory result will be arrived at.

Mr. Krishna was responding to a question on the progress on units III and IV of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, which is embroiled in differences over perceptions over India's civil nuclear liability.

Both Krishna and Rogozin agreed to step up trade and investment and shared the perception that the economic ties between the two countries are much below potential. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin co chaired the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission meeting on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC TEC) during which they also deliberated on these issues.The two leaders agreed that efforts have to be made to achieve the desired bilateral trade target of 20 billion US Dollars by 2015.

Ahead of his meeting, Rogozin had on Sunday said the cost of the third and fourth units of the Kudankulam atomic power plant would escalate if it is brought under the purview of India's civil nuclear liability law over which differences remained.

Differences in perception over the nuclear liability law have become a bone of contention between India and Russia in negotiations on units III and IV. The law makes foreign suppliers liable for compensation in the event of accident.

Russia argues that the civil nuclear liability law should not apply to these units as the agreement on them predates the 2010 civil liability law, and could be seen as grandfathered by the original 1988 agreement while India has clearly stated that making an exception for Russia will amount to diluting its law which will encourage the US and France to seek similar exemptions, which it cannot afford.

The estimated cost of units III and IV is 6.4 billion Dollars , of which 3.4 billion will be taken care of by Russian state credits.Rogozin has given an assurance that the reactors were safest in the world.

The visiting dignitary also asserted that it was important to understand the liability and responsibility of Indian and Russian governments in creating a favourable and stable investment climate as far mutual business was concerned.