Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev met with the head of the Ministry of Transport\'s Aerospace Committee, Almas Kosunov, on 19 May to discuss the country\'s enhanced role running the Baikonur space complex. The two men also discussed the general development of Kazakhstan\'s aerospace industry. Kosunov reported that two Kazakhs who have been selected to take part in space missions, Aidyn Aimbetov and Mukhtar Aimakhanov, will be sent to the Russian cosmonaut-raining center outside of Moscow in July for two years of training. This year Kazakhstan will take on a significant role in funding modernization programs at Baikonur. The reports quoted Nazarbaev as saying that ensuring environmental security should be a priority in the modernization projects. According to eyewitness reports, a large part of western Kazakhstan is littered with debris left behind by the Soviet space program, and much of it is harmful to the environment. Some Kazakh politicians have demanded that Russia clean up the mess as a condition for its continued use of Baikonur. (Interfax-Kazakhstan)