Coming less than a year after the go-ahead for the development of the Soyuz/Guiana Space Center project, this latest step consolidates the European-Russian partnership on Soyuz, now organized in a two-pronged approach.


http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Ar...ce_Center.html

First, launches from Baikonur under the responsibility of Starsem, a joint subsidiary of EADS/Arianespace (50%) and their Russian partners (50%). To date, Starsem has carried out 15 launches from Baikonur, all successful, for scientific, communications and Galileo spacecraft. Three launches are planned in 2006 and three more in 2007.
Secondly, launches from the Guiana Space Center, under the responsibility of Arianespace. A Soyuz launch pad is now being built in French Guiana. The European Space Agency and Arianespace are co-financing this work, worth a total of 344 million euros, with French space agency CNES as prime contractor, assisted by Arianespace.