Ukraine, China call over 50 outer space cooperation points

KYIV, October 15 /UKRINFORM/. In the near future Ukraine and China will work on more than 50 points of the program of bilateral cooperation in the field of outer space exploration.

These points have been clarified and sealed in the protocol signed on the results of Sunday's 2nd meeting of the Ukrainian-Chinese subcommittee on space cooperation. The document was signed by the head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine, Yuriy Alekseev, and the head of China National Space Administration (CNSA), Chen Qiufa.

"We agreed at this meeting a wording that includes 52 points, among which 36 are priority and 16 long-term," the head of the Space Agency's international relations department, Borys Atamanenko, told the UKRINFORM correspondent in Beijing.

He also reminded that the program for 2011-2015 is annually adjusted. "The changes we make every year confirm the continuous development of our relations," he said.

At present, according to Atamanenko, up to a dozen domestic enterprises under control of the State Agency are implementing 21 contracts with China worth more than $67 million. "The implementation of about 20 contracts and interest in approximately 50 subjects show that our cooperation has reached a new level," Atamanenko said.

He also reminded that Ukraine is currently implementing its own five-year program for the development of the industry in 2012-2017, and earlier this year the government approved measures to implement the space activities concept until 2032. "We have a concept until 2032 and its implementation plan. And we offer our Chinese counterparts to compare these concepts in order to find common ground," the representative of the State Space Agency said. In particular, he noted that the Ukrainian party invites experts from China to Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv, where the main companies of the industry are located, as well as to Yevpatoria's deep space center.