Recent reports stated that before the end of the year Russia and Kazakhstan plan to sign an intergovernmental agreement on the formation of the Kazakh rocket launching complex ‘Baiterek’ and by December next year plan to launch the first Kazakh satellite KazSat, which will be independently managed by local specialists. This project has been undertaken by the state enterprise Kosmicheskaya svyaz (Space Communication), an operator of satellite communication in the Russian Federation. Today, this enterprise manages the work of 14 orbital satellites and controls up to 80% of that segment of the market in Russia. This programme which is being financed by Kazakhstan is estimated at USD65 million.
