"I shall defend this program on April 8 in the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, personally in front of Gref," Perminov said at the news conference in RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
"It is very good when such high-ranked official (Gref) deals with outer space, I mean the procedure of financing and the consideration of perspectives, and that he was personally present at the launching from the Plisetsk spaceport," Mr. Perminov said.
The program, according to him, was fully agreed upon in appropriate ministries and government departments, except the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Finance Ministry.
The head of the Roskosmos noted that the main trends of the Russian space program are to ensure global communication and TV broadcasting on the whole territory of the Russian Federation. "In this sphere we have some achievements: new space communication satellites of the Express AM series have been put in orbit," he said.
According to him, the launching of these space vehicles will make it possible for the population in Siberia and the Russian Far East to watch 15 TV programs as in the European part of the country, not only two or three as before.
Another aim of the program, Mr. Perminov continued, is to receive the data of the Earth distant probing for the needs of cartography and for monitoring the environment, for studying natural resources, ensuring hydrometeorological information for the users, for carrying out fundamental research and implementing international agreements in the sphere of fundamental space studies, for carrying out piloted space flights and fulfilling international agreements with regard to the International Space Station.
