Kazakhstan and South Korea intend to jointly produce satellites

Nur-Sultan and Seoul intend to jointly produce Earth remote sensing satellites. Space is one of the new areas of cooperation for the two states, but there is a lot of common ground. Kazakhstan plans to create a constellation of 18 remote sensing satellites called KazEOSat, while South Korea recently launched a machine from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, almost all parts of which were designed and manufactured in the same country.

“We would still like to consider the participation of Korean companies not only as suppliers of components, but also as joint investment participators in this project. Since we know about the very good developments of the Satrek company in the field of recognition and decryption of satellites from spacecrafts, and the fact that we also have good experience in the application of these images to the tasks of various sectoral bodies, we would like to bring the combined potential and experience of the two countries to start entering the global market with geoinformation products,” said Malik Olzhabekov, spokesperson for Kazakh Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry.

The parties also intend to cooperate in the field of energy and mineral resources. Representatives of the two countries discussed joint projects for the construction of a base oil plant in Shymkent and the expansion of the project for the construction of gas filling stations in Kazakhstan, as well as the prospects for partnership in nuclear power and metallurgy.

“For 15 years, Kazakhstan and South Korea have forged strong partnerships in the field of nuclear energy. One of our recent contracts was in January 2020, which was successfully completed in March of that year. We also have a long-term contract between our subsidiary and the KHNP for supplies from 2025 to 2029,” added Dalida Aldabergenova, Chief of Staff at a national atomic company of Kazakhstan.

“A project to build a plant to produce 100,000 tonnes of ferrosilicon is under consideration. This is an important raw material for steel production. About three years ago we started negotiations with the customer, and all the while we continued discussions. As a result, a delegation of 10 people visited us in November of last year, even despite the pandemic, thanks to the assistance of the governments of Kazakhstan and South Korea, and a design contract was concluded. Basic design is currently in progress. In mid-June, about 10 of our employees will travel to Kazakhstan to discuss detailed design,” noted Han Seung-Hoon, Deputy Director of a South Korean company.

Kazakhstan and the Republic of Korea intend to exchange experiences, including in the fields of forestry, agro-industrial complex and digital transformation of water supply.

Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova

Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova