Roscosmos announced cooperation with Zimbabwe in the creation and launch of satellites

Roskosmos has found a new partner in the development and launch of small spacecraft. The state corporation will cooperate with Zimbabwe. The agreement on this was signed at the end of November, according to the report on the results of 2022.

“Negotiations were held with the Minister of Higher and Professional Education, Innovation, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Zimbabwe Amon Murvira, during which an agreement was reached on further cooperation in the creation and launch of small spacecraft for educational and communications purposes,” Roscosmos noted.

In September, Speaker of the Zimbabwean Parliament Jacob Mudenda came to Russia on a visit. He stated that the republic supports the war in Ukraine, which “was the result of the aggressive policy of NATO led by the United States.” Mudenda also stressed that Russia and Zimbabwe are “brothers in arms” in opposing Western sanctions.

The creation of a space agency in Zimbabwe was announced in 2018, a year after current President Emerson Mnangagwa came to power. He got the country after a thirty-year rule by Robert Mugabe, who practically destroyed its economy. Zimbabwe is still one of the poorest countries in the world. In the pre-COVID 2019, inflation here reached 837.5%, and the unemployment rate was 90%.

Roscosmos spoke about other partners, in particular, about agreements with two Iranian companies SAHAB and SpaceOmid “in the field of launch services. In December, the head of the state corporation, Yuri Borisov, said that Russia was ready to cooperate with Iran in the field of creating spacecraft. Including the countries discussed manned astronautics.

Among other achievements, Roscosmos reported on agreements with China, India, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Myanmar. In general, the state corporation noted that “despite the difficult foreign policy background and sanctions pressure,” it “significantly advanced in strengthening international relations.”

Over the past three years, the Russian Foreign Ministry has signed agreements on the non-deployment of weapons in space with Togo, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Suriname, Guatemala and a dozen other countries that do not have a space programs.