Russia and Ukraine need to sign a new intergovernmental general agreement on aircraft production, setting out the basic principles of their relationships in this field, Russia’s Deputy Industry Minister Yury Slyusar said on Monday.
“We propose sealing the basic principles of our relationships with a new general agreement on cooperation,” Slyusar said at a meeting of the inter-parliamentary Russia-Ukraine commission. “The agreement should reflect key issues of interaction, such as state support measures, the financing of joint projects, the distribution of rights and obligations and so forth,” he added.
Slyusar said a 1997 agreement on aircraft development and production signed between the two countries needed to be modernized.
“The absence of accords on the basic principles of our relationships impedes our forward movement,” he said.
A new general agreement should develop roadmaps for key aerospace projects, he said.
Russia and Ukraine are currently implementing a joint project to build the An-70 new-generation medium-haul cargo propfan designed by the Ukraine-based Antonov design bureau. Ukraine and Russia are also involved in joint production of the An-124 Ruslan heavy transport, and An-148 short-haul airliner.
The two sides discussed aircraft construction on Saturday at a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov.
Russia and Ukraine shared “common potential and technological chains established over decades,” in the aircraft and helicopter building industries, Russia’s State Duma Speaker and co-chairman of the inter-parliamentary commission Sergei Naryshkin said at the meeting.
“These are natural points of innovative growth for our economies, and in actual fact, the engines of modernization,” he said.