Russia and China Agree on SatNav Joint Venture

China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) and the Russian GLONASS nonprofit partnership agreed to establish a joint venture to promote worldwide services based on GLONASS and BeiDou, according to a report in the Russian daily newspaper izvestia. 

The two parties met November 11 in the Chinese city of Zhuhai. Under the agreement, the parties will identify existing technological competence that will be the foundation for the joint venture, and seek government support for joint initiatives to promote abroad.

Before the establishment of the joint venture, the parties agreed to establish a Russian-Chinese center for the implementation of satellite navigation technologies in the civil sphere. According to the agreement, “The center will be the controlling authority in determining the future direction of the joint venture and will deal with administrative issues related to the establishment of the future joint venture.”

Another topic at the meeting was the feasibility of establishing an international techno park dedicated navigation topics using GLONASS and BeiDou. China already has two specialized industrial park focused on developing technologies based on BeiDou.

NORINCO is a Chinese company that manufactures vehicles, machinery, optical-electronic products, oil-field equipment, chemicals, light industrial products, explosives and blast materials, and civil and military firearms and ammunition. NORINCO is also involved in domestic civil construction projects.