Moscow, Dec. 16 (PTI): The contract for acquiring the 44,000-tonne Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier is ready for signing next month, a Russian defence official said today.

“The sides have finalised the contract and its signing is expected in January 2004 in New Delhi,” an unnamed senior official of the Russian committee for military technical cooperation was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass. The $1.8-billion contract incorporates two packages pertaining to retrofitting the Kiev class aircraft carrier and MiG-29k carrier-based warplanes. “The retrofitting and upgradation of Admiral Gorshkov is valued around $700 million and (the) remaining amount of over $1 billion is for the planes,” he said.