Tag Archives: Space Diplomacy

Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall was in Washington, DC, on 17 January 2020 at the invitation of His Excellency Philippe Etienne, France’s Ambassador to the United States, to extend CNES’s New Year wishes to the U.S. space community

Russia, Kazakhstan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are set to proceed with a trilateral agreement to modernise the 'Gagarin's Start' launch complex at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, according to a 16 January 2020 report in Azerbaijan's Trend News Agency citing Russian and Kazakh sources.

The UAE Space Agency and the Saudi Space Commission met on the sidelines of the Saudi-Emirati Coordination Council in Riyadh, the capital city of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on 10 January 2020, where both parties officially activated their Memorandum of Understanding that was initially signed last year.

In the presence of Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Egypt’s Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research, and Stéphane Romatet, France’s Ambassador to Egypt, Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall opened the first joint France-Egypt Space Seminar in Cairo on 14 January 2020.

As part of the official visit to China of Frédérique Vidal, the Minister for Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Centre national d’etudes spatiales (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall and Bai Chunli, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), signed a framework agreement on space cooperation on 13 January 2020.

The lower house of the Kazakh parliament approved legislation in December 2019 that amends Kazakh-Russian space cooperation at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kyzylorda region of southwest Kazakhstan, as well as the return to Kazakhstan of four areas of land leased by Russia around the large launch complex.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is understood to be in separate talks with Kazakhstan regarding space cooperation, and South Korea regarding economic cooperation in satellite manufacturing and applications, according to Saudi and regional press reports.

Indonesia is understood to be in talks with Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, about the possibility of Russia training and launching the Southeast Asian country’s first astronaut.

AzerCosmos, the Azerbaijani satellite operator, reported revenues of U.S.$40.6 million for the period of January to November 2019, a 69 percent increase over the same period in 2018, when the company generated revenues of just U.S.$25.6 million.

These personal reviews are being published during the holiday season. This is Dr. John B. Sheldon, Chairman of ThorGroup and Publisher of SpaceWatch.Global.