MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Ukraine have agreed to resume production of the An-124 Ruslan (Condor) heavy-lift transport aircraft in 2008, Russia's prime-minister said on Monday.

Russia and Ukraine had originally agreed in principle to resume the plane's production on February 12, 2008 during talks in the Russian capital between the two countries' presidents and a final decision followed on Monday, Viktor Zubkov said.

"A concrete decision has been taken to resume the joint production of the An-124 Ruslan plane, which, as we know, is in great demand," he said, after a meeting of the economic co-operation committee of the Russia-Ukrainian intergovernmental commission.

The An-124 was designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in 1982 and was the world's largest transport plane until production of the Airbus A380 began earlier this decade. It was produced in Kiev and Ulyanovsk until 1995. It can carry 150 tons of cargo for around 3,000 kilometers.