The launch of Tunisia's first satellite owned by Telnet Holding on board Russia's Soyuz 2 rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, scheduled for March 20, is the beginning of a mutually beneficial partnership in the field of high technology, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th March, 2021) The launch of Tunisia's first satellite owned by Telnet Holding on board Russia's Soyuz 2 rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, scheduled for March 20, is the beginning of a mutually beneficial partnership in the field of high technology, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
"During the talks, also attended by Tunisia's ambassador in Moscow Tarak ben Salem, the sides expressed the opinion that the March 20 launch of Tunisian telecommunications satellite on Russia's carrier rocket will put a start to a mutually beneficial partnership in the field of high technology," the ministry said in the follow-up statement to the talks between Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Envoy for the middle East and Africa, and Mohammed Frikha, CEO of Telnet Holding.
The sides also reiterated their willingness to expand business relations on various projects under the coordination of the Russian-Tunisian intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation. The eighth meeting of the commission is set to take place in the second half of 2021 in Moscow.
The Challenge ONE satellite was first announced in 2019 by Tunisian aerospace and telecommunications company, Telnet. Under the deal signed between the company and the Russian operator of commercial launches of Soyuz-2 rockets, Glavkosmos Launch Services, a total of 30 Tunisian satellites will be launched by 2023. The March 20 launch date is set to coincide with Tunisia's independence day.
