The leaders of Russia and Turkey on Tuesday launched the start of construction for Turkey's first nuclear power plant, as ties between the two nations deepen.



Russian President Vladimir Putin, on his first foreign visit since being re-elected on March 18, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remotely gave the go-ahead for the construction of the Russian-built nuclear plant on the Mediterranean coast at Akkuyu.



During Tuesday's ceremony, Erdogan said the first reactor at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant would become operational in 2023 and when all of the plant's reactors were activated it would meet 10 percent of Turkey's energy needs.



"Thus we will have made our energy basket — still largely reliant on petroleum, natural gas and coal — more robust," he added.



The Akkuyu plant is being built by Russias nuclear energy agency, Rosatom. The project is estimated to cost $20 billion. Turkey and Russia have put aside their traditional rivalries and differences on regional issues to forge closer ties. Putin and Erdogan have met several times in the past year and regularly speak on the phone.



Their ever-warming ties comes as Russia is running into widespread diplomatic fallout from the poisoned spy scandal in British and Turkey's relations with its Western allies have worsened over human rights issues and its military operations against Kurdish militia in Syria.



Turkey is also set to purchase Russias long-range S-400 missile defense system — a deal that is raising eyebrows among some of Turkey's NATO allies.



On Wednesday, Putin, Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani are expected to hold a summit in the Turkish capital of Ankara to discuss Syrias future. The three countries are sponsoring a series of efforts in a bid to end the seven-year war.



Their cooperation comes despite having positions on opposing sides in the Syrian conflict. Moscow and Tehran have sided with Syrian President Bashar Assad while Turkey has been supporting his opposition foes. [AP]