Azerbaijan, Baku, April 29 / Trend H. Veliyev /
The Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (US Ex-Im) has approved financing for the construction of the first Azerbaijani telecommunications satellite Azerspace, a source close to the project told Trend on Friday.
Signing of the loan agreement for the construction of Azerspace is expected to take place early in May.
The agreement will be signed trilaterally between the Azerbaijani government, US Ex-Im and the French bank BNP Paribas.
The cost of manufacturing the Azerspace satellite is $120 million, 85 percent of which will be provided to the Azerbaijani side in the form of a US Ex-Im loan, and the remaining 15 percent will be paid by state funds.
US Ex-Im will allocate the loan to Azerbaijan based on funds borrowed from BNP Paribas. As expected, the deal will be financed by US Ex-Im with a two-year period for the use of funds and a ten-year repayment period.
Azerspace's manufacturer is Orbital Sciences Corporation. An orbital position for Azerspace has been leased from the Malaysian MEASAT satellite operator. The French Arianspace has started to manufacture the Ariane 5 ECA rocket carrier, which will launch the first Azerbaijani telecommunications satellite into orbit. The launch is scheduled for late 2012.