Armenia and Russia advancing space cooperation

YEREVAN, June 25. / ARKA /. Armenia and Russia are building up their cooperation in the space, the Secretary of National Security Council of Armenia, Arthur Baghdasaryan, said today.

"Armenia has set up  Armcosmos company, which at first glance may seem extraordinary, but we will implement a very serious program with Russia ," he said after meeting with Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev in Yerevan.

He also said that the Russian delegation visited the Garni observatory, which has modern infrastructure.

According to him, the sides reached agreements to modernize the  Garni and Byurakan observatories in Armenia  for a long-term cooperation.

"Observatories are our national wealth and we are not going  to make them Russian facilities. We will work together to implement modernization programs to be financed by Russia. This cooperation involves joint use of space and  space security projects," Bagdasaryans said.

Gagik Grigorian, the chief of staff at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said earlier that Armcosmos  will be overseeing plans to launch Armenia’s  first commercial satellite. He said  the total cost of the satellite project is  around $250 million. He said the  government hopes to attract much of the money from private investors. -0-