The 6th Meeting of the China-Russia Satellite Navigation Key Strategic Cooperation Project Committee convened in Kazan, Russia on August. 30th, 2019. The meeting was co-chaired by Mr. WANG Zhaoyao, Chairman of the China Satellite Navigation Committee, and Mr. Saveliev, Deputy General Manager of Roscosmos (the plenipotentiary representative of Mr. Rogozin, General Manager of Roscomos). Over 20 delegates coming from relevant Chinese and Russian departments attended the meeting. Those include YANG Changfeng, member of the China Satellite Navigation System Committee and Chief Architect of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), RAN Chengqi, Director General of the China Satellite Navigation Office, WANG Hongjun, Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Russia, ZHANG Yuan, Chief Representative of China National Space Administration Representative Office in Russia, YANG Baohua, Deputy General Manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, XUE Jianguo, Senior Officer of China North Industries Group, LIU Qiang, Chairman of China Great Wall Industry Corporation, ZHANG Xiushe, General Manager of China Electronics Northwest Corporation, members of 4 working groups of the committee, and so on.
During the meeting, China and Russia confirmed that “Agreement on Cooperation between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Russian Federation on the Peaceful Use of Global Satellite Navigation Systems BDS and Glonass” would take effect. As an important inter-governmental document of the China-Russia satellite navigation cooperation, the agreement will provide legal and organizational guarantees for satellite navigation cooperation between the two countries.
The meeting deliberated reports from 4 working groups, i.e., compatibility and interoperability, augmentation and station construction, monitoring and assessment, and joint applications. It conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges and archived made multiple key advances on joint station construction, cross-border transportation, precision agriculture and other cooperation projects. The text consensus on “Agreement on Time Interoperability Cooperation between BDS and Glonass” was reached; the site survey of the China-Russia satellite navigation monitoring stations was completed and the survey certificate was signed. The feasibility study report of the precision agriculture project was discussed and adopted; a multi-mode and multi-frequency radio frequency (RF) chip for global signals of the Chinese and Russian navigation satellite systems was released on site. Detailed discussions for follow-up cooperation on the field of cross-border transportation, monitoring and assessment were conducted, and business prospect analysis of joint research and development of chips and other application cooperation was carried out.
In the near future, the two sides will closely communicate on the development plan and project implementation of the two systems, actively expand and enrich new areas of cooperation, prepare new cooperation projects, and promote the sharing of achievements and win-win cooperation between BDS and Glonass.
In recent years, China-Russia satellite navigation cooperation has received great attention from the two governments. In January 2015, under the framework of the regular meeting committee of the Chinese and Russian Prime Ministers, the Project Committee was formally set up to establish a platform and a mechanism for inter-governmental cooperation between the two systems. The Project Committee has held 6 plenary meetings; set up 4 working groups; signed a number of joint declarations such as compatibility and interoperability, joint application; developed a monitoring and assessment service platform of the two systems; and jointly launched "one belt one road" service performance test of the systems, etc. For the field of satellite navigation in two countries, practical cooperation has been promoted and significant results have been achieved.
The important achievements of the China-Russia satellite navigation cooperation are the prominent manifestation of the traditional friendship between China and Russia in the new era. The satellite navigation cooperation between the two countries has created a new mode of cooperation among global satellite navigation systems. BDS will always insist on the development concept of "the China’s BeiDou, the World’s BeiDou, and a Top-class BeiDou", share the achievements of development with other countries, and promote the development of global satellite navigation.
