Russia on Monday signed a contract worth four billion dollars with Airbus to supply the European aircraft manufacturer with titanium for its planes over the next decade. The agreement, hailed as a landmark deal between a European company and Russia, was signed at a ceremony in Moscow attended by powerful Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, an AFP correspondent reported.
Under the deal, Russian state metals firm VSMPO-AVISMA will supply titanium to Airbus until 2020. VSMPO-AVISMA is part of the state industrial holding Russian Technologies. "We started with small steps but this is a great step forward," said Airbus chief executive Thomas Enders, who inked the contract with Russian Technologies head Sergei Chemezov. "This is an important strategic deal."
Putin declared that the total value of the contract with Airbus was four billion dollars and said that Moscow intended to further develop its co-operation with the European aerospace group EADS, Airbus' parent firm.
He added that trade between the two firms had grown 20 times since the first bilateral deals signed in the early 1990s. The parties said in a statement that the deal was the biggest and longest term contract "in the history of Airbus/EADS co-operation with Russian industry". The contract provides for Russian Technologies to supply Airbus with titanium used in the production of all Airbus airplanes, including its new model the A350 XWB.
VSMPO-AVISMA is one of the world's leading producers of titanium, valued for its light-weight and resilience in airliner construction. About 70 percent of the firm's yearly output goes to export. "The signed agreement demonstrates that Russia can offer high technology products to the world markets," Chemezov said in the statement.