ArabSat honoured during Satellite 2007

[BGonaSTICK]

The Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) held a ceremony to commemorate 50 years of Satellite in Space "Human Timeline" in conjunction with Satellite-2007 Conference in Washington DC, USA. During the ceremony, Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat), represented by Mr. Khalid Balkheyour, President & CEO, was honored as the first satellite operator in the Middle East and Southern Mediterranean region.

Mr. David Bross, Chairman of SPPI, and Dom Stasi, CEO introduced the honorees.

The ceremony started by recognizing the Russian Space Agency for its extraordinary achievement since the 1957 launch of Sputnik I, then INTELSAT of USA, TELSAT of Canada, SATEL ANDO of Indonesia, Arabsat of Middle East and Southern Mediterranean region, IMPARTEL of Brazil from Southern America, and finally SES-Astra from Europe.

Mr. Khalid Balkhyour, Arabsat President & CEO, disclosed during the recognition ceremony that "Arabsat, after 30 years of its establishment, presents this recognition to the Arab League as well as to the Arab ministers to whom the credit shall be bestowed for the inception of Arabsat in 1967 when they worked hard to connect the Arab world with a telecom network that led to the creation of Arabsat in 1976".

The recognition came in synchronization with the successful launch of Badr-4, the pioneer of 4th generation satellites. Moreover, Arabsat is concluding the final touches of contracts for manufacturing and launching of its 5th generation satellites. Arabsat maintains an integrated fleet of satellites covering all telecom services to support its customers inside and outside the Middle East region.