YEREVAN (Arka)—Canadian aerospace company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) will help Armenia launch its first communications satellite, company CEO Mag Iskander told the visiting Armenian transport and communications minister Gagik Beglaryan, the Armenian ministry reported today.

Beglaryan was quoted as saying in a ministry press release that Armenia had submitted to the International Telecommunications Union a bid to secure an orbital position. Iskander, in turn, said MDA had examined the bid and is interested in participating in the relating project.

During his visit to Canada on July 29 to August 2, Beglaryan also met with the president of the Canadian Space Agency, Gilles Leclerc, and senior official from the Canadian Export Development Agency, John Miller, to discuss the possibility of Canadian participation in Armenia’s space program.

The Armenian transport and communications ministry began last October the process of reconciling a feasibility study with Russian company Geyser-Telecom for manufacturing a broadcasting satellite. Currently a 71.4° E longitudinal orbit position is free from satellites.

According to some estimates, the Armenian government will have to attract private investment in the project worth an estimated $250 million. The Armenian government first announced plans to launch a satellite in spring 2012 after senior officials from Russia’s Federal Space Agency, also known as Roscosmos, visited Yerevan and met with Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.