Bashkiria to Develop Space Cooperation with Germany - 2 April, 2003

Bashkirian President Murtaza Rakhimov yesterday held a meeting with Sigmar Wittig, the president of the German Space Agency. According to the Bashkirian president's press office, the meeting devoted particular attention to 'the scientific and technical potential and opportunities in Bashkiria concerning material science, computer technology, robotics, and training staff to work with new technologies.'

The Bashkirian president told Wittig about the involvement of Bashkirian firms and research and design institutes in space programmes, including building the Mir space station. He also mentioned changes in the republic, the prospects for modernizing existing industrial concerns and creating new ones, and discussed issues regarding attracting investment and entrepreneurs into science-based technologies.

Sigmar Wittig, an honorary doctor of Ufa State Aviation University, who is visiting Bashkiria for the second time, expressed his conviction that the future would see wider contacts and mutually beneficial collaboration between Bashkiria and Germany.