BEIJING (APP) - Pakistan and China Friday signed a loan agreement for setting up the Paksat-1R Satellite ground control segment project. Ambassador Masood Khan, on behalf of Economic Affairs Division, signed accord with the EXIM Bank of China, according to which Pakistan would receive RMB86.5 million concessional loan. Paksat-1R will be launched on August 14, 2011 replacing the current communication satellite Paksat-1. A contract for the project was signed between SUPARCO and China Great Wall Industry Corporation in the presence of President Asif Ali Zardari in Beijing in October 2008 while the deal for the ground control segment of the satellite was signed in October 2009 during Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilanis visit to China. Later on, a Framework Loan Agreement between the two governments was signed in June 2010. Speaking on the occasion, Masood Khan said the agreement had further promoted Pak-China cooperation in the field of science and technology. Pakistan and China share a long history of space technology cooperation. Pakistans first low orbit satellite, Badr-1 was launched by China in 1990. The two countries have continued to enhance their cooperation in peaceful applications of space technology under an agreement signed in 1991.