One of China's leading aircraft manufacturers signed a framework contract with Airbus on Tuesday to jointly produce aircraft composite material parts and components.

Harbin Aircraft Industry Group Company Limited agreed with the European aircraft manufacturer to form a joint venture manufacturing center in Harbin,the capital of Heilongjiang Province, at the on-going week-long Farnborough Airshow.

The contract was signed by Laurence Barron, President of Airbus China, and Pang Jian, Chairman of the Board of Directors of HAIG, a company under China Aviation Industry Corporation II.

The manufacturing center, to be set up in early 2009, will be an equity joint venture enterprise, with HAIG holding 80 percent stake and Airbus China owning 20 percent.

Under the contract, the manufacturing center will manufacture composite materials parts and components for the Airbus A320 Family and participate in the industrialization and serial production of Airbus A350 XWB work-packages.

"The establishment of the joint venture manufacturing center marks another important milestone for the relationship between HAIG and Airbus," said Pang Jian.

The new manufacturing center will further enhance the strategic cooperation between Airbus and HAIG, already a qualified supplier for Airbus and one of the shareholders of Airbus (Beijing) Engineering Center, the Harbin company chief added.

"This project demonstrates once again Airbus' commitment to the long term sustainable development of China's aviation industry," said Laurence Barron, President of Airbus China.

On November 26, 2007, Airbus signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Development and Reform Commission of China to formalize the commitment of allocating 5 percent of the A350 XWB airframe to the Chinese aviation industry.

(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2008)