Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.11 / Trend, H. Valiyev /
Azerbaijan has signed a loan agreement to finance launching of the country's first telecommunications satellite Azerspace into orbit, Azerkosmos chairman Rashad Nabiyev told Trend on Tuesday.
The negotiations on the loan from the French export credit agency COFASE have been already held with French banks Sosiete Generale and SMBC.
The loan amount, as the source close to the project told Trend earlier, is approximately $80 million.
The cost of launching the satellite is $94 million, 85 percent of which will be provided to the Azerbaijani side in the form of a loan, and the remaining 15 percent will be paid by state funds.
The deal will be financed with a two-year period for the use of funds and a ten-year repayment period.
The satellite is expected to be launched into orbit in late 2012. Azerspace's manufacturer is Orbital Sciences Corporation. An orbital position of 46 degrees east longitude has been leased from Malaysian satellite operator MEASAT. French Arianspace will send the satellite into orbit.