Nur-Sultan. December 14th. INTERFAX-KAZAKHSTAN - Kazakhstan and Russia have conducted all domestic procedures for the Gagarin Launch modernization project, but the UAE is delaying the process, Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Bagdat Musin said.
"Kazakhstan and Russia have carried out all domestic procedures (for the modernization of Gagarin Launch - IF-K), now all the documents are in the Emirates - in the third party, they are moving, but, to be honest, slowly. We have agreed (Kazakhstan and Russia - IF-K) that we will once again express concern to the Emirati side and if there is no progress by March, we will simultaneously start looking for other options for implementing the project," Musin told reporters on the sidelines of the government on Tuesday.
According to him, Kazakhstan and Russia are taking measures to hurry the UAE in the implementation of the project.
"If they suddenly refuse or delay, we will definitely make other decisions, we have them in stock, but we have no right to voice them yet," he explained.
When asked by the Interfax-Kazakhstan agency about possible reasons for delaying the implementation of the project by the UAE, he stressed that the agreements on the Gagarin Launch were carried out with the previous leadership of the space agency.
"Now they have had a change and the new management is delving into the project, they are (reviewing - IF-K) the conditions, recalculating the refund due to the fact that the space industry is becoming dynamically developing, and they say that we need to look at the prices on the world market again and so on. But we can't wait for a long time, we need to make a decision faster," Musin summed up.
Earlier in November, it was reported that representatives of the space agencies of Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan signed a joint statement of intent to modernize the Gagarin Launch at the Baikonur cosmodrome. The document records joint intentions to start detailed elaboration of the trilateral project on modernization of the historical site No. 1 of the Baikonur cosmodrome - the place from which the first human flight into space took place in the near future.
It was reported that the parties plan to attract private investors to the project and further carry out commercial operation of the complex on a joint basis.
On October 26, Roscosmos reported that Russia and the UAE signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes
Earlier, Musin reported that Kazakhstan and Russia have agreed on a draft agreement on the modernization of the Gagarin Launch at Baikonur, a hitch is coming from the UAE.
In June 2019, within the framework of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, an agreement was signed between Roscosmos, the Russian Direct Investment Fund and investors from the United Arab Emirates on the reconstruction of the Gagarin Launch.