BEIJING - China and Bolivia on Wednesday jointly launched a communications satellite project that will be completed within three years.

The construction of the Tupac Katari satellite, named after an 18th century indigenous hero who fought Bolivia's Spanish colonizers, will benefit the Bolivian people, said Bolivian President Juan Evo Morales Ayma at the launching ceremony.

The cooperation between the two countries will also promote friendship as well as technological and economic exchanges, said Morales, who arrived in Beijing Wednesday morning on a five-day visit.

According to the deal signed on December 13, 2010 between the Bolivian state-run space agency and China Great Wall Industry Corporation, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC), Bolivia will have its first communications satellite by the end of 2013 or the beginning of 2014.

China will work to ensure the quality and high technology of the satellite and its supporting facilities to better serve Bolivia's economic development and needs of its people, the CASTC said.

Once completed, the satellite will be launched at Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province and is expected to provide telecommunication services in Bolivia and support the country's educational and medical initiatives.

The deal is funded by China Development Bank.