MOSCOW: India and Russia could jointly develop a new generation space shuttle for manned space flights and negotiations for the project are expected to begin in January, according to a top space official.

"India has expressed desire to participate in the development of a new reusable manned spaceship and from January next we will discuss this issue with the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation," Chief of Russia's Federal Space Agency, Roskosmos, Anatoly Perminov said.

Although Perminov did not identify the project, but 'Energia' Corporation is reportedly developing reusable spacecraft 'Clipper', which is expected to replace Soviet-designed Soyuz spaceships in Russia's national space programme.

Perminov said India was Russia's privileged space partner with which it was working in different directions and has granted Indian space experts access to many of its ground control facilities.

"With India we are interacting in carrier rockets, their components, dual use systems, global positioning system GLONASS and mission control and ground tracking equipment," Perminov said here at an year-end news conference.

Russia, which launched three satellites on Christmas to commercially operationalise Soviet developed global navigation satellite system (GLONASS), has taken India onboard in further developing of the system to end dependence on the Pentagon controlled Global Positioning System (GPS), which was twice switched off to enable US strikes during the Balkan and Iraq wars.