PARIS: France pledged yesterday to help Poland develop nuclear power plants and deepen co-operation on energy policy, a move which could help Poland lessen its dependence on natural gas from Russia.

Poland will send scientists to France for training starting this northern autumn, while France will provide Poland with technical assistance and the two countries will co-operate in nuclear research and development, a joint statement said.

"We take this very seriously," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at the Elysee Palace following his meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Sarkozy said that France would be Poland's "exclusive" partner in nuclear development, but Tusk later said that Poland's energy policy had to be taken in a European context and that other countries could participate once the projects were better defined.

"The plan is to have Poland's first nuclear power plant around the year 2020 and another one by the mid-20s," Tusk said.

France and Poland also said they want to work on developing convergence in the European gas market in order to "assure the security of [the natural gas] supply in Europe," the declaration said.

French-Polish ties appeared to be improving after several bumpy years, and Sarkozy paid tribute to Poland's stature as one of the "big" EU countries. "It's very easy to work with the Polish Prime Minister, with the Polish Government," Sarkozy said.

On defence matters, the two countries appeared to have made progress in deepening their relations. France has long been wary of the primacy that Poland has put on its transatlantic relations with the United States. The two countries pledged to reinforce European security policy and in a significant new development said they would discuss nuclear dissuasion as well.

"Convinced of its importance, they [Poland and France] decided to open a bilateral dialogue on the role of nuclear dissuasion in the context of current security. Poland is the first country that does not have a nuclear weapon with which we [France] engage in such a dialogue," the summit communique said.

Agriculture, the environment and climate change were also on the agenda.

- AP