Mr Wen Jiabao, Premier of State Council of the Peoples Republic of China, visited ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, today (April 10, 2005). He was briefed on the Indian space programme by Mr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO. After the briefing, the Chinese Premier was shown the facilities at the Centre. The Chinese Premier evinced keen interest on the Indian space programme.

It may be noted that India has a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese National Space Agency on cooperation in the application of space for peaceful uses. A team from China has visited India and an Indian team visited China earlier to share the experiences of both the countries and to identify areas of cooperation in the application of space technology.

The visit of Chinese Premier today is expected to provide further impetus to explore further areas of cooperation in the area of space applications.