Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

China is planning to take part in Azerbaijan's upcoming satellite projects.

The statement came from the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Azerbaijan, Hong Jiuyin at a meeting with the Azerbaijani Communications and High Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov.

"The Chinese companies are showing great interest in Azerbaijan's satellite projects and will participate in the upcoming tenders for launch of spacecrafts," he said.

Jiuyin praised Azerbaijan's rapid development of economy and added that he is closely monitoring the country's achievements in the field of ICT.

Referring to the interest of Chinese companies in investing in this sector of Azerbaijan, he said companies, in particular Huawei, ZTE have increased their activities in the central Asian country.

It was also noted that China Telecom is one of the major telecom operators of the project TASIM (Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway), which is commendable.

In turn, Ali Abbasov spoke about ongoing reforms in Azerbaijan, achievements in the ICT sector, as well as large-scale measures aimed at development of high technologies.

He also talked about a wide range of opportunities for attracting foreign investments, the creation of a favorable business environment. Abbasov also spoke about the expansion of activities of China's ICT companies in Azerbaijani market.

China is one of the largest players in the satellites market. It is also one of the main designers and manufacturers of satellites with three operating spaceport (Jiuquan, Xichang, Taiyuan) and one still under construction. China is hosting dozens of scientific and production enterprises of space industry.

The first Azerbaijani communications satellite Azerspace-1 was launched in February 2013, while the second satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2017. Moreover, Azerbaijani space agency "Azercosmos" plans to launch a low-Earth orbit satellite in 2016.

Azerspace is broadcasting over 80 TV and radio channels, covering Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North Africa. Some 80 percent of the satellite's resources are available for commercial purposes.

The satellite was designed to offer digital broadcasting services, internet access, and data transmission. It also creates multiservice VSAT networks and provides governmental communication services.