BEIJING: China announced on Wednesday it will launch a communications satellite for Pakistan at an "appropriate time" in the coming days. It will be carried by a Long March-3B carrier rocket.Both the satellite and rocket are currently in good condition, the official media quoted a spokesman of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, as saying.The 30-transponder satellite will give Pakistan some strategic advantages in military and cross-border propaganda areas besides helping the country meet its communications needs, observers said.It has been "manufactured exclusively" for Pakistan, the National Space Agency of Pakistan, said recently. It will work on both KU and C bands and controlled by earth stations in Karachi and Lahore, the agency said.Pakistan is a member of the Beijing headquartered Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization, which is implementing a project sharing of remote sensing data among member states. Other members include Bangladesh and Iran, who will also share date on early warning and mitigating disasters and exploitation of resources in the APSCO circuit. China began assisting Pakistan's space program after signing a strategic cooperation agreement in 2007.

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