Kazakhstan and UAE vow to foster space technologies coop

Yousuf Al Shaibani, Director General, EIAST, said that the main objectives of the EIAST are to promote science innovations and development of technologic progress in the UAE, as well as creating a pool of local specialists in the field of space.

In 2009, the Institute has successfully launched its first satellite "DubaiSat-1" from the Baikonur complex. The data obtained from the satellite was used by international organizations for flood relief in Pakistan and tsunami in Japan. The satellite photos also have been used to control soil erosion in coastal zone and eutrophication. "DubaiSat-2", the UAE's second satellite, was launched in November 2013. Currently the EIAST develops a new innovative domestic satellite «Khalifa Sat», named after the UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The new remote-sensing satellite weighing 330 kg is supposed to be launched in 2017.

During the meeting, Ambassador Kairat Lama Sharif congratulated the EIAST management with the great success in development of their human resources and investing in infrastructure and cutting-edge technology, including in space science. At the same time he noted that the main directions of the Kazakh -UAE cooperation in the space sphere outlined in the Agreement between the National Space Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology of the United Arab Emirates on cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, signed in Dubai in November 2011.

Also the sides shared the view that the next step should be broadening the bilateral relations through specific and mutually beneficial projects in the field of space technologies. In this regard, the Kazakh diplomat handed to Yousuf Al Shaibani, Director General, an official invitation of Talgat Musabaev, the Chairman of the National Space Agency of Kazakhstan, to visit Kazakhstan, the Kazakh MFA's press service said.