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Russia to help Saudi Arabia develop space technology
[Arab News] Russia is to sign an agreement with the Kingdom on developing space technology, Russian Ambassador Oleg B. Ozerov told newsmen on Sunday.
What a novel way to take Saudi money! Still, it would give boys something to dream about and study math and science for... and girls, too, just for the joy of understanding. It might even occur to some that MIT.edu has entire courses on-line for those who don't want to rely on inferior schools for their education.
The Russian envoy was addressing news hounds in Riyadh on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, on April 12, 1961.

"We regard Soddy Arabia as one of the major partners in space cooperation, because the Kingdom became the first country to be directly engaged in space exploration," Ozerov said, recalling Prince Sultan Bin Salman's performance in 1985 when he circumnavigated the Earth and became the first Arab and Mohammedan to travel into space.

Considering the economic potential of Soddy Arabia and the Russian technologies,
Googling "Saudi Arabia scientific research" yields 301,000,000 hits. Seriously.
Yeah, and Googling "Uganda scientific research" yields 84,200,000 hits. Seriously. So The Magick Kingdom(tm) is not even three times as advanced as Uganda!
the ambassador said the combination would make a promising and fruitful cooperation between the two countries.

Ozerov said arrangements are being made by the two countries to sign the Intergovernmental Agreements on Cooperation in the Development and Use of Outer Space For Peaceful Purposes and the Development and Sharing of the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS).

He said that the Kingdom will become a leading space power in the Arab world.
Is there any competition?
"I would like to assure that on its part, Russia will be glad to contribute to this sector in every field," he said.
Posted by: Fred 2011-04-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=320120