Nine countries agree to cooperate on SilkSat telecommunications project (10/08/00)

Nine countries agree to cooperate on SilkSat telecommunications project

by Irene Jarosewich

NEW YORK - Leaders from nine European and Asian countries that span the ancient Silk Road trade route attended a very modern summit here on September 8 with the purpose of committing their countries to a new form of regional cooperation. But the presidents and foreign ministers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakstan, the Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine and Uzbekistan meeting at the Regal U.N. Plaza Hotel did not discuss the trade in tea and silk, rather the development of modern telecommunications systems.

Whereas the Great Silk Road was once the route for the transport of goods, noted Prof. Roald Sadgeev, former director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and now director of the East West Science Center of the University of Maryland - which, along with the EastWest Institute in New York, was one of the sponsors of the Silk Road Regional Cooperation Summit - this route can now be the venue for the transmission of information and human communication.

The SilkSat project was initiated jointly in the United States by Prof. Sadgeev and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who authored the 1997 Silk Road Strategy Act. At the core of this plan for regional cooperation in telecommunications is an agreement that is intended to enhance the telecommunications infrastructure of these nine countries by introducing and integrating fiber optic, wireless communications and small communications satellite technology throughout the region. Because of the project's large scale, SilkSat planners need to integrate the resources of multiple partners: private investors and corporations, international organizations, as well experts and existing infrastructure in the targeted countries.

Borys Tarasyuk, Ukraine's then minister of foreign affairs, represented Ukraine at the summit. He noted that "Ukraine has considerable scientific and industrial potential in space research, as well as experience participating in international projects such as SilkSat - including Sea Launch, Globalstar and InterSputnik. Therefore, Ukraine is capable and willing to take an active part in the elaboration and implementation of the SilkSat project." He added that Ukraine, besides having scientific experts and practical experience, has research agencies, launch and tracking facilities, and capabilities that could be used in the regional project.

The new Silk Road, noted President Eduard Shevarnadze of Georgia, encompasses the Eurasian belt, a dynamically developing region that could falter since in this region two elements essential to modern economic growth - oil and telecommunications - are least developed. "The SilkSat project will overcome the digital divide that threatens to separate the G-7 from the rest of the world," he added. Besides economic development, noted other speakers, a project such as SilkSat is essential to enhance regional and international security.

The countries currently in the project were once republics of the former Soviet Union, or its satellite countries. During Soviet times most did not receive any investment from Moscow to develop anything other than a very rudimentary telecommunications infrastructure. Now most of these countries do not have either the capital or the expertise to develop modern telecommunications networks on their own.

The SilkSat project is based on the use of small communications satellites and other shared resources in order to provide an affordable solution to the telecommunications needs of countries that are unable, or do not need to, commission more expensive conventional-size satellites. All of the presidents and foreign ministers present spoke of their countries' need to be integrated into a modern system of telecommunications, as well as of the resources that their countries bring to the project. Prof. Sadgeev estimated that the initial development phase, including fund-raising, design, construction and launch of first satellite, should take about two and a half years.

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