Irving Shipbuilding and the federal government have reached an “agreement in principle” to continue negotiations on a $25-billion shipbuilding contract.

In Halifax on Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the Halifax Shipyard and the federal government concluded negotiations on an umbrella agreement on the contract. The details of the agreement were not available.

Harper called it a “new era” for shipbuilding in Halifax.

“Will this stop the flow of young people out of Atlantic Canada? Yes, it will. Will there be opportunities for those who have already left and wish to return? Yes, there will,” Harper told a crowd of hundreds of Irving employees inside the Halifax Shipyard on Thursday.

“We understand the potential of this region. There is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to generate long-term economic growth here in Atlantic Canada.”

There is currently no contract in place between the yard and government. Steve Durrell, the president of Irving Shipbuilding, said he expects to negotiate two separate contracts over the 30-year life of the deal.

Durrell hopes the first of those contracts ‘ for a set of Arctic patrol vessels ‘ will be in place by the end of 2012. That means details on a provincial investment in training and infrastructure upgrades for the Irving yard will not be disclosed any time soon.

“We’re working through numbers, but things are still yet to be 100 per cent finalized,” said Jim Irving, CEO of Irving Shipbuilding, after the announcement.

“We’re going to get this umbrella agreement signed, and then we’re going do some more engineering, and then we’ll be revisiting with the province.”