MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. Heads of the space agencies of BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) inked an agreement on exchanging Earth remote sensing data, the Russian Federal Space Agency said on Wednesday.

The videoconference meeting of the heads of BRICS space agencies was held on August 18, the agency said. "The heads of the space agencies signed the agreement during the meeting on cooperation in exchange of satellite data of Earth remote sensing," it added.

The agreement will promote cooperation between authorities in establishing a virtual group of remote probing satellites and data sharing. This will help in "solving such problems as climate change and environment protection," the Russian space agency said.