P. O. Box 500, a-1400, Vienna, Austria. Corrections will be issued in a consolidated corrigendum

 

COPUOS/T.551 

Page 9

 

 

Beside the above activities, Indonesia has 

signed the Convention of the Asia-Pacific Space 

Cooperation Organization, APSCO, in Beijing, 

October 2005, and also is preparing an agreement on 

space cooperation with the Government of the Russian 

Federation, which is expected to be officially signed 

this year. 

 

 

Mr. Chairman, at this juncture, I would like to 

extend my delegation’s hope for the continuation of 

efforts in the field of space cooperation, aiming for 

sustainable development, with strong support from all 

countries in the forthcoming years.  Let me assure you 

of our firm commitment and support to the efforts of 

this Committee that will surely benefit us all. 

 

 

Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. 

 

 

The CHAIRMAN 

(interpretation from 

French):  I should like to thank the distinguished 

representative of Indonesia, Mr. Kartasasmita.  Thank 

you very much for your very thorough statement Sir.  I 

particularly note the point that you raised in connection 

with the need for each country affected by a natural 

disaster to have available its own means and skills to 

put those countries in a position best to draw upon 

space technology.  I am thinking of space imagery and 

so on.  Now your country has been affected by a 

number of disasters recently and this is particularly 

relevant.  But I am also thinking of the remarkable 

progress that Indonesia has achieved in this regard.  It 

was a personal pleasure for me to listen to a 

presentation at the Astronautics Congress in October, 

talking about the progress that had been achieved in 

terms of the estimation of the damage caused by the 

tsunami and I was struck by the high quality of that 

work and I now would like to congratulate you upon 

that.  It was really remarkable work.  Thank you very 

much, therefore, for your statement. 

 

 

We will now hear from the Italian delegation 

and I give the floor to Ms. Gabriella Arrigo.  Thank 

you very much Sir. 

 

 

Ms. G. ARRIGO (Italy):  Mr. Chairman, 

distinguished delegates, I would like to begin by 

extending my warmest congratulations to Mr. Gérard 

Brachet, elected Chairman of this Committee and its 

new officers for the period 2006-2007. 

 

 

Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the Italian 

delegation, let me wish you a good job for the next 

challenging and rewarding two years to comes.  We are 

sure your long space experience and managerial 

capability will be useful and relevant for our work. 

 

 

In addition, the Italian delegation would like 

to express special appreciation to Mr. Ade Abiodun for 

his professional and vigorous coordination capacity 

resulted in the past chairmanship of this Committee. 

 

 

Finally, I would also like to thank Mr. Sergio 

Camacho-Lara, Director of the Office for Outer Space 

Affairs, and his staff, for the regular and efficient job. 

 

 

Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the Italian 

delegation, let me express my sympathy with the 

Indonesian island of Java for the thousands of people 

who died in the strong earthquake a few weeks ago. 

 

 

In consideration of this tragedy, Italy is more 

convinced of the relevance and urgency in 

implementing the recommendations of the UNISPACE 

III, as expressed in item 7 of our agenda. 

 

 

In addition, recognizing the relevance of the 

activities carried out by the Action Teams, aiming to 

promote space technologies and space applications, 

Italy continues to follow the space science and 

technology opportunities, convinced that their 

applications could play a key role in the 

implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable 

Development recommendations. 

 

 

In particular to the Navigation Action Team, 

Italy supported the creation, on voluntary basis, of the 

International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite 

Systems, which will promote the sustainable 

development through the cooperation in the frame of 

civil satellite-based positioning, navigation, timing and 

value-added services, as well as the compatibility and 

inter-operability with existing and future navigation 

satellite systems. 

 

 

Mr. Chairman, with regard to item 8 of our 

agenda, relating to the report of the Scientific and 

Technical Subcommittee, particularly in the framework 

of the United Nations Programme on Space 

Applications, Italy, through ESA, is pleased to support 

that organization of several workshops and symposia 

round the world. 

 

 

Considering the matters pertaining to remote 

sensing of the Earth by satellite, Italy recognizes the 

relevance and encourages the development of the 

European Programme Global Monitoring for 

Environment and Security in strengthening the 

international cooperation. 

 

 

The Italian delegation would like to remark on 

the efficient job conducted by the Working Group on 

Space Debris during the last session of the Scientific 

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and Technical Subcommittee, which approved the text 

of the draft Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines.  The 

document is circulating at national level in order to 

reach consent before the approval by the next Scientific 

and Technical Subcommittee session in 2007. 

 

 

With regard to the use of nuclear power 

sources in outer space, Italy actively participated in the 

work of the Joint Technical Workshop on the 

Objectives, Scope and General Attributes of Potential 

Technical Safety Framework for Nuclear Power 

Sources in Outer Space, co-organized by the 

International Atomic Energy Agency and the Scientific 

and Technical Subcommittee.  We agreed with the 

Workshop conclusions, in particular, that it helped to 

better understand respective mechanisms of the 

development and decision processes of the 

International Atomic Energy Agency and the 

Committee and characterized advantages, drawbacks 

and peculiarities of the different implementation 

options. 

 

 

Mr. Chairman, in the frame of space-system-

based disaster management support, the Italian 

delegation will make a specific statement about the 

main international activities carried out by the Italian 

Earth Observation Community. 

 

 

In addition, Italy already expressed its 

preliminary positive opinion with respect to the 

possibility of creating an international entity to provide 

for coordination and the means of optimizing the 

effectiveness of space-based services for use in disaster 

management.  In particular, we are convinced that the 

mandate of this United Nations entity might be 

complementary with the GMES programme and 

GEOSS work plan. 

 

 

Our final decision on the formality of our 

contribution will be taken as soon as possible. 

 

 

Mr. Chairman, finally, with regard to the new 

item in the agenda of the Scientific and Technical 

Subcommittee, “International Heliophysical Year 

2007”, Italian scientists hail the world’s science 

community that will again come together for an 

international programme of scientific collaboration 

aiming at advancing our understanding of the 

fundamental heliophysical processes that govern the 

Sun, Earth and Heliosphere, and at demonstrating the 

beauty, relevance and significance of space and Earth 

science to the world. 

 

 

Mr. Chairman, with regard to item 9, the 

Italian delegation welcomes the results achieved by the 

Legal Subcommittee during its forty-fourth session, 

under the chairmanship of the Chilean Ambassador, 

Raimundo González Aninat. 

 

 

We followed with particular interest the 

deliberations of the Subcommittee under agenda item 

11, Practices of States and International Organizations 

on the Registration of Space Objects, either in the 

Plenary as well as during the Working Group meetings, 

also considering that Italy has recently become a Party 

to the United Nations Convention on the Registration 

of Objects Launched into Outer Space.  On the other 

hand, the Italian delegation would like to express its 

concerns on the issue of the new agenda items to be 

included in the agenda of the Subcommittee for the 

years to come. 

 

 

As we have already had the opportunity to 

state, we believe that the Legal Subcommittee 

represents a unique forum for States to analyze, study 

and exchange information on the practices and the 

evolution of international space law.  Therefore, Mr. 

Chairman, we deem that member States should make 

their best efforts to agree on new items to be included 

in the agenda of the Legal Subcommittee. 

 

 

Mr. Chairman, in consideration of item 11 of 

our agenda and, in particular, the special theme 

dedicated to space and education, a representative of 

the Italian Space Agency is pleased to make a 

presentation on the education activities carried out in 

Italy for the diffusion and enhancement of space 

among young students. 

 

 

Finally, Mr. Chairman, let me welcome, on 

item 14, the matter relating to the evolution of space 

activities and the development a long-term plan to 

strengthen the role of this Committee in international 

cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space. 

 

 

Thank you Mr. Chairman. 

 

 

The CHAIRMAN 

(interpretation from 

French):  Thank you very much Madam for your 

statement on behalf of the Italian delegation.  Italy has 

become a major player in European space activities and 

it was my personal pleasure to be associated with a 

number of major decisions that have been taken by 

Italy in the area of space in the last few years.  I am 

thinking in the context of the European Space Agency 

and bilaterally.  And I am particularly struck by the 

high quality of the development and the vision in 

Italian space activities.  I would like to thank you very 

much for all the comments that you made in reference 

to agenda items and we will deal with those points as 

we come to them on the agenda. 

 

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