Tunisia, Russia Share Growing Interest In Space Cooperation - Ambassador

Cooperation in space has become a subject of growing interest in Russia and Tunisia after the launch of the first Tunisian satellite on board Russian carrier rocket Soyuz this year, Tunisian Ambassador Tarak Ben Salem told Sputnik

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th June, 2021) Cooperation in space has become a subject of growing interest in Russia and Tunisia after the launch of the first Tunisian satellite on board Russian carrier rocket Soyuz this year, Tunisian Ambassador Tarak Ben Salem told Sputnik.

"Aerospace cooperation is now the subject of a particular interest, mainly after the launch of the Tunisian satellite Challenge ONE on March 22 by the Russian Soyuz-2 rocket from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and the agreement to expand this cooperation via the creation of a center of aerospace technologies and science in Tunisia," the ambassador said.

The first domestically-made Tunisian satellite Challenge ONE was inaugurated in 2019. The date of the March 22 launch coincided with Tunisia's independence day. Tunisian aerospace and telecommunications company Telnet signed a deal with Russia's Glavkosmos Launch Services, the operator of Soyuz-2 commercial launches, for a total of 30 Tunisian satellites to be placed into orbit by 2023.

According to Ben Salem, Tunisian President Kais Saied wished to see Russia contribute to the training of the first Tunisian woman astronaut.

Russian state space corporation Roscosmos has recently announced that it was negotiating a spaceflight to the International Space Station on board a Soyuz spacecraft by representatives of four countries, including Tunisia.

The Tunisian diplomat also stressed that there are several areas of common interest on which Tunisia and Russia could work together.

"The next session of the [Russian-Tunisian Intergovernmental] Commission, which will take place in Moscow before the end of this year, hopefully, will be a favorable occasion to discuss new areas of cooperation and to enrich the legal framework by signing several other programs of cooperation in the fields of health, education, sports, culture and environment," he said.

Tunisia and Russia can cooperate in many spheres, including railroad and maritime infrastructure projects, agricultural development and tourism investments, the ambassador said, adding that the countries can also join forces in the fight against environment pollution.