PARIS, December 12 (RIA Novosti, Andrei Nizamutdinov) - Construction of infrastructure for launches of Souyz spacecraft from the Kourou space center in French Guiana will start in December and are expected to be completed in July 2008, the French Space Agency (CNES) said Monday.

The contract on the approximately 135-million euros project was signed by CNES Director of Launchers Michel Eymard and Pierre Berger, the chairman of Vinci Construction Grands Projets, which represents the especially established industrial group Soyuz-Infrastructure.

The program of cooperation between the European Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency envisages launches of Russian Soyuz-ST space carriers from the Kourou space center and the work on the construction of the three-stage carrier, Soyuz-2-1B.

The first launch of Soyuz spacecraft from the French space center is planned for the second half of 2008.