Off the wire
• Roundup: Half million tourists to join Thailand's Songkran festival  • China, Vietnam pledge to boost law-enforcement cooperation  • Major news items in leading German newspapers  • Syria says military operation needed in Yarmouk Camp against IS  • Egypt refers 379 Brotherhood members to criminal court  • 11 arrested in police anti-Jihad operation in Catalonia  • 2nd LD: Bomb explosion injures 4 near police station in Jakarta  • 1,475 incidents of armed violence reported in Burundi in 2014  • China Headlines: Only through quality can China conquer the global market  • Indian stocks close at 3-week high  
You are here: 　 Home

Vietnam backs out of Belgian satellite deal

Xinhua, April 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Vietnamese government has pulled out of a deal with Belgium over the manufacture of a Belgian-made satellite, La Libre Belgique reported on Wednesday.

Vietnam and Belgium originally agreed to the contract in January 2014.

The satellite, VNREDSat1b, was to be manufactured by an industrial consortium led by the Liège-based Spacebel company, and including Walloon and Flemish companies, who were to deliver the satellite for 60 million euros.

The contract was withdrawn after prolonged negotiations over its terms broke down.

"The VNREDSat1b project could not progress as hoped because of negotiations that have prolonged, and that affected its implementation and effectiveness," Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told his Belgian counterpart, Charles Michel, local media reported.

The VNREDSat1b satellite was to be placed in orbit for a five-year observation mission. It was designed to enable Vietnam to strengthen its ability to monitor natural phenomena such as deforestation and river and sea pollution. Endit