Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told reporters about the Russian eagerness after a meeting with Russian Ambassador Gennady P Trotsenko at the Foreign Ministry yesterday.

He said Russia is interested in giving technical assistance to the second phase of the power plant.

During the meeting, the adviser said, they discussed the whole gamut of relations between Bangladesh and Russia and how to increase political and economic cooperation between the two countries.

He said Russia has always been a great friend of Bangladesh and Bangladesh has huge potentials for cooperation. "We want to utilise the opportunity," he said.

Besides, the governments of the two countries are negotiating a number of agreements, Iftekhar said.