France and Italy have signed an intergovernmental agreement reaffirming their support to Naviris, a joint venture between Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and French defense contractor Naval Group.
Signed on February 27, the agreement makes the long term alliance launched by these two industrial groups fully operational.
“We welcome this intergovernmental agreement, which reinforces our joint-venture Naviris,” commented Hervé Guillou and Giuseppe Bono, CEOs of Naval Group and Fincantieri respectively.
“We are delighted to be able to count on the support of both the Italian and French governments together with the navies of our two countries to carry out our mission effectively.”
Naviris was set up in January 2020. The JV, owned equally by the two groups, will manage ambitious projects, including mid-term modernization of the Franco-Italian Horizon frigates, common R&D, export opportunities and the development of a European patrol corvette.
The cooperation is seen as the key to the consolidation of the European naval sector.
“Naval Group and Fincantieri are open to enlarge their cooperation to other European partners in order to make the European naval industry the worldwide leader in product performances and technology innovation,” the two companies said.