China to help Pakistan build satellite

BEIJING, (RIA Novosti) – China will assist Pakistan in building a new communications satellite, Chinese media reported Saturday from Islamabad.

An agreement under which China will grant a $200 million loan to Pakistan for satellite construction was signed in Islamabad on Friday.

The new PAKSAT-1R is to replace PAKSAT-1, to last until 2011. PAKSAT-1R could be orbited in two or three years’ time. It will be built jointly by China’s Great Wall Industry Corporation and Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmospheric Research Commission.

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