Global warming and the consequent melting ice sheets has opened new Arctic areas to competition over maritime routes and resources involving Western countries as well as Russia and China, putting a premium on polar icebreaker vessels.

"This collaboration is intended to strengthen the shipbuilding industry and industrial capacity of each nation -- and build closer security and economic ties among our countries," the White House said in a statement.

US Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Daleep Singh told journalists that the accord allow workers and experts to train in all three countries, and an invitation for allies to purchase the ships.

Russia has in recent years beefed up its military presence in the Arctic region by reopening and modernizing several bases and airfields abandoned since the end of the Soviet era, while China has poured money into polar exploration and research.

The rapid melting of polar ice has sent activity in the inhospitable region into overdrive as nations eye newly viable oil, gas deposits, mineral deposits and shipping routes in an area with a complex web of competing territorial claims.