France clashed with Italy in July after ordering a "temporary" nationalisation of STX, cancelling a deal in which Italian state-owned Fincantieri (>> Fincantieri SpA) and another Italian investor had agreed to buy a 54.6 percent stake.
France took the decision after Fincantieri, which had agreed to buy the majority stake from STX's former South Korean owners, rejected a French government proposal of 50-50 ownership.
France has proposed extending co-operation to the field of naval defence, in which its Naval Group military shipyard - formerly known as DCNS - is an important player.
The French government is also keen to preserve jobs at the STX Saint-Nazaire site on France's Atlantic Coast.
(Reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey; Writing by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Brian Love)