PARIS, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Exclusive talks are continuing between France and Russia over a possible sale of French Mistral helicopter carriers to the Russian army, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.
Lavrov was speaking in Paris after a meeting of France’s and Russia’s foreign and defence ministers on military cooperation between the two countries.
"There is no change in the position of President (Dmitry) Medvedev in March when he said there would be exclusive negotiations on the Mistral," Lavrov told reporters.
"Negotiations are ongoing and concrete. The negotiations are on technology transfer," he said.
The Russian defence and foreign ministers also met President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday, and Sarkozy’s office said talks between all parties on the Mistral were encouraging.
"We are continuing our discussions with a great deal of confidence," an Elysee official told reporters.
Russia originally had been in talks for months with France over a deal to buy two of its Mistral helicopter carriers, which are built by French naval shipyard DCNS, owned by defence electronics group Thales.
But the sale appeared in question in August after Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced he was opening the deal up to international tender.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said a French delegation had visited Russia a week ago in order to push ahead with talks, and that the Russians had given their response at Tuesday’s meeting.
