Russian and French shipbuilders OSK and DCNS signed an agreement to form a joint venture to build France's Mistral-class warships.
"This document creates the ground for cooperation between Russian and French ship-builders," said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who is also the chairman of the OSK's board of directors.
CEO of OSK, Roman Trotsenko, said that the consortium would build technologically advanced vessels first, in particular, icebreakers.
"We will participate in all projects that are profitable," he said.
Trotsenko has said that the Russian company was capable of building a Mistral-class helicopter carrier in 30 months, but "the optimal decision would be a joint production".
In September, France proposed to build two Mistral warships at its shipyards within 36 months. The other two helicopter carriers will be built in Russia.
The cost of building one Mistral class vessel is about US$700 million.
Source: Xinhua
