Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has hailed the recent launch of the Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS-1) as a symbol of Pakistan–China friendship “higher than the skies,” underscoring its strategic and economic significance.
The satellite, launched from China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan Province, will be used for land resource surveys, disaster prevention and mitigation, agricultural monitoring, and urban planning. Speaking to China Central Television (CCTV), Iqbal said the technology offers wide-ranging benefits, from improving agricultural productivity to enabling better city management and disaster response.
“This is becoming a vital tool for the development of humanity,” he said, adding that satellite technology’s ability to monitor the Earth has far-reaching economic applications.
The PRSS-1 launch represents another step in Pakistan’s growing engagement with space technology, made possible through Chinese assistance. Looking ahead, the two countries are preparing to send the first Pakistani astronaut into space aboard China’s Tiangong space station, with training programmes already underway.
Iqbal emphasised that Pakistan intends to leverage such technological partnerships to strengthen its development agenda. “With this launch, our friendship with China, once said to be higher than the Himalayas, now truly reaches beyond the sky,” he remarked.
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