MOSCOW, September 12 (RIA Novosti) - Major Russian spacecraft manufacturers agreed Monday to set up an association that would enable them to boost cooperation with foreign partners while also protecting the domestic space industry against disintegration and ill-advised reforms.

Nikolai Sevastyanov, chief executive of Energia Inc., said his company was willing to join the association specifically because this would help bring other companies onboard its Kliper project, which involves the construction of an advanced manned space shuttle.

Federal Space Agency Vice President Nikolai Moiseyev said he and his colleagues had carefully studied the proposal and fully approved it.