"The concession talks are drawing to a close," he told the parliament's Economics Committee.
When asked whether the concession agreement with Hitachi will be signed if there is no clear answer from Latvia and Estonia regarding their participation in the project, Sekmokas said that Lithuania will not wait for the neighbors to make up their minds.
"Estonians and Latvians are not parties to the concession agreement. Talks with them continue," he said.
The concession agreement, which will have to be approved by the Lithuanian government and the Seimas (parliament), is expected to be signed by July.
It is expected that Lithuania will hold a 34 percent stake in the new nuclear power plant development company and will invest almost 6 billion litas (EUR 1.74 b).
"The price (of the Visaginas project) can only be reduced. We can't afford to increase it," Sekmokas said.
The minister said that during its lifetime, from 2020 to 2080, the Visaginas plant is expected to contribute 5 billion litas in revenues to the state budget and 27 billion litas to the gross domestic product, and attract about 11 billion litas in foreign investment.
Lithuania expects to build the new nuclear power facility by 2020, with the help of the strategic investor and Latvian and Estonian energy companies. The project is estimated to cost up to 5 billion euros to build, with Japanese, US and European banks expected to provide some 50-70 percent of the financing.
Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant CEO Rimantas Vaitkus says that the concession agreement with Hitachi should be initialled within days and then submitted to the government for approval.
"If we don't submit the initialed agreement to the government in early April, we'll miss the deadlines. We must do so in the coming days," he said, speaking to BNS and lawmakers after Wednesday's meeting of the parliament's Economics Committee.
Lithuania's Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius reitarated that the deal is approaching completion.
The agreement will be signed by Lithuania and Hitachi, while talks with potential regional partners, Latvia and Estonia, will continue, Kubilius said.
"The concession agreement will be signed by the Lithuanian government and Hitachi, because the concession right is being granted by the Lithuanian state. Once the agreement is initialed, which we expect to happen quite soon, it will be discussed at the Seimas (parliament) and if the Seimas approves, it will be finally signed with Hitachi. In parallel, talks continue with potential shareholders, potential regional partners," he told reporters.
BNS has unofficial information that the final talks with Hitachi are being held in London.
Vaitkus also said that he will soon present the planned Visaginas nuclear power plant project to almost all parliamentary groups. "We'll go to all major parliamentary groups," he said.
By taking its decision on the terms of the concession, the Seimas (parliament) will give the green light for further negotiations with Hitachi, the CEO said.
Vaitkus said that all talks on the construction and financing of the new facility could be completed in 2014.
