MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Russia and Kazakhstan plan to complete the Baiterek project, Roscosmos head Yury Borisov said in a statement on Thursday.
"We intend to complete the implementation of the Baiterek project. It will ensure the future of the Baikonur cosmodrome. The Kazakh side also has a desire to make progress," he said at a working meeting with Bagdat Musin, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry.
The ministry’s press office said an agreement was reached at the meeting to continue work on the Baiterek project.
"During the talks, the parties discussed the main issues involved in cooperation in the space sector and the further implementation of the project titled ‘Creation of the Baiterek Space Rocket Complex.’ The sides noted the strategic importance of the project and agreed to continue working on its implementation," the statement said.
In 2018, a protocol was signed to amend the Russian-Kazakh intergovernmental agreement for the creation of the Baiterek complex at Baikonur, which had been signed on December 22, 2004. It sets forth the parties’ obligations under the project, and provides for the lease and transfer to the Kazakh side of the ground-based space infrastructure of the Zenit-M system for modernization. Kazakhstan is responsible for the creation of ground infrastructure through the modernization of the Zenit-M space rocket system. For its part, Russia is developing Soyuz-5 and Soyuz-6 launch vehicles, which it plans to launch from there.