MOSCOW, June 8. /TASS/. The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, has approved a law ratifying an agreement on cooperation with Venezuela in the use and exploration of outer space for peaceful purposes. The document was approved at a plenary session on Wednesday.

The agreement between the governments of the two countries was signed in Caracas on March 30, 2021. It is intended to create "organizational and legal foundations for mutually beneficial cooperation between the parties and relevant organizations of both states in the field of exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes."

As indicated in the documents attached to the law, the joint space activities envisaged by the agreement will be carried out, in particular, on a commercial basis, which will serve to "attract additional extrabudgetary funds to the domestic rocket and space industry."

Specific conditions and financial obligations related to cooperation programs and projects will be determined in separate contracts concluded by the participants in joint activities.

"Cooperation with Venezuela will make it possible to promote relevant services <...> in the face of competition in the global space services market, as well as provide domestic organizations in the rocket and space industry with additional load of production facilities and increase the employment of their employees," the explanatory note says.