Putin clears space pact with India

MOSCOW: Clearing the way for joint space exploration and transfer of space technology to New Delhi, the Indo-Russian space cooperation agreement has been signed into a federal law by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin signed the pact into a federal law after both houses of Russian parliament unanimously approved the pact last month allowing the transfer of sensitive space technology to India for the peaceful use of outer space.

The framework agreement signed in New Delhi during Putin's visit in December 2004 sets a streamlined system and identifies the mechanism for enhanced cooperation in peaceful exploration of space, including protection of secret information and intellectual property rights and settling disputes.

After signing into law by president Putin, Indo-Russian space cooperation will acquire strategic character and would speed up joint collaboration in completing and operationalising the Global Navigational Satellite System (GLONASS) to end the monopoly of the Pentagon controlled US Global Positioning System (GPS), sources in the Russian Federal Space Agency Roskosmos said.