Germany to sign joint venture agreement for Airbus factory in China

German Economy Minister Michael Glos, currently on a visit to China, is to sign a joint-venture agreement for an Airbus factory in the city of Tianjin, his ministry said Tuesday. The deal, to be inked Thursday, will set the terms for building the first manufacturing site for the European aircraft maker's mid-size A320 outside Europe.
Construction began in mid-May at the site in Tianjin city 110 kilometres (68 miles) east of Beijing. The aircraft assembly facility is currently slated to begin operations in early 2009 and by 2011 hopes to be producing four A320 planes a month.
The site is to be run with Chinese partners, the newly formed Tianjin Zhongtian Aviation Industry Investment Co, which will control 49 percent of the company. Total investment is estimated at between eight and 10 billion yuan (between one and 1.3 billion dollars).
An agreement to build the plant was inked during a visit of French President Jacques Chirac to China last October, with Airbus insisting on a 51 percent stake in the project. Airbus hopes to gain a foothold in the rapidly expanding Chinese civil aviation market, which is dominated by US manufacturer Boeing.