Russia and France discuss "Mistral"

Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and the chief of special staff of the French President, General Benoit Puga held a working meeting in Kaliningrad on cooperation in the construction of ships of type "Mistral".

At the meeting, which was the first official contact after the announcement by the Ministry of Defence of the tender for the construction of two helicopter carriers, the parties stated their positions, particularly on the location of building the ships.

For example, France has offered to build the first two ships in their own shipyards. Moreover, the first ship to be built will be in 36 months after the signing of the contract, the second, 12 months after completion of the first vessel. The next two ships to be built in Russian shipyards.

The position of the Russian side is that the building process should be mostly localized to Russian shipyards. In addition, the Russian side expressed its interest in obtaining advanced technology in this field. The parties agreed to hold the next meeting during which further cooperation will be discussed.

Before the meeting the French delegation toured the factory of "CCL" Amber, which will become a production base for building ships of this type,reports INTERFAX

In August, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said that the Ministry has already announced an international tender for the construction of two of the helicopter carrier ships. Tenders are to be held in September. Results will be announced before the end of the year.