Russia, China specify areas of bilateral Space Cooperation

At the third session of the Russo-Chinese sub-Commission on Space Cooperation, which took place on Monday in the Chinese capital, the sides specified 13 spheres of cooperation, drafted requests for proposal and signed a number of documents related to spheres of practical interaction.

This information has been disclosed by Deputy Managing Director of the Rosaviakosmos corporation Georgy Polishchuk who called the sub-Commission's work "successful and positive." Polishchuk said that at the second session in 2001 the sides signed a cooperation programme till the year 2005. According to him, Russia and China "have started its practical implementation." He added that the production plants have established contacts in such areas as scientific space programmes, monitoring systems and instrument engineering. Moreover, the sides now understand that only the programmes that are crucial for both Chinese space programmes and Russian Federal Space Programme should be implemented.

He stressed that the scope of the sub-Commission's responsibility does not include piloted space programmes and military-technical cooperation. "Our cooperation covers all possible areas of civilian space," Georgy Polishchuk emphasised. "This refers to remote space probing, space telecommunication systems, navigation and land infrastructure."