COPUOS/T.551
Page 15
for carrying three instruments of ESA onboard India’s
first scientific mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-1.
An Agreement with Russia to cooperate in its
GLONASS programme.
A Memorandum of Understanding between
the Antrix Corporation of the Department of Space and
EADS Astrium, France, during 20 June 2005, to jointly
address the commercial market for communication
satellites in the mass range of two to three tons. The
Agreement envisages optimizing ISRO’s INSAT
platform, along with EADS Astrium communication
payloads. We are happy to inform that the first
Agreement under this umbrella Memorandum of
Understanding has been signed.
An arrangement concerning consideration of
potential future cooperation in the field of outer space
between ISRO and JAXA, Japan, during October 2005.
Mr. Chairman, the integrated and application-
driven space programme pursued by ISRO has
benefited the common man and has enhanced their
quality of life.
Towards our quest for utilization of outer
space for peaceful purposes and benefiting mankind
through proper use of space-based assets, we feel the
agenda for this session of the COPUOS is very relevant
and important. Our deliberations during the session
should encourage the developing countries in
contributing extensively towards capacity-building for
gainful utilization of space application programmes.
The Indian delegation firmly believes that
COPUOS will continue to contribute through exchange
of views and sharing of expertise that exists among
various countries in the world in the space technology
front and make the Earth a better place to live in.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN
(interpretation from
French): Thank you Dr. Suresh for your contribution.
I have to say that every time I hear a statement on
India’s space activities, I am deeply impressed by the
great success that you have accomplished over the
years and the very highly-structured, very well
organized way in which you pursue these activities in
your country. Often I have told myself, I wish we
could copy that, we could have the same approach.
Again, congratulations on your accomplishments. I
think the quality of your space programme is
something that we should all learn from. We should
learn of better ways of applying space technologies in a
number of countries. In that sense, your contribution
to the work of this Committee is of particular
importance. Thank you again.
And I now call on Romania, Mr. Marius Piso.
Mr. M.-I. PISO (Romania)
(interpretation
from French): Thank you Mr. Chairman.
(Continued in English) Let me express, on
behalf of the delegation of Romania, my
congratulations to your and to the delegation of France
for your election in the main chair of this Committee.
And let me express my certitude that strategic and
practical goals and objectives of COPUOS will be
successfully accomplished under your chairmanship.
Let me also extend the congratulations to Dr.
Elöd Both from Hungary and Dr. Paul Tiendrebeogo
from Burkina Faso for their election in the Board of
this Committee.
Mr. Abiodun, also please accept my
congratulations for the successfully leadership of the
Committee during the last years, together with my
hope that all the actions already started during your
mandate will benefit of successful follow-up.
Mr. Chairman and distinguished delegates,
Romania is continuing its own space development at
the national level and together with the international
space community.
The Romanian Space programme is further
developed under the authority of the Romanian Space
Agency and accomplished by more than 104
organizations with research, academic and industrial
profiles. The five sub-programmes, space policy and
infrastructure, space exploration, space applications,
aerospace technology, industrial development and spin-
off, were completed recently with a space technology
programme for security. Presently, being involving
several hundreds full-time equivalent professionals,
and this programme recorded a substantial growth
during the last year. I would like to remind that most
of the projects are completed under international
cooperation. I might mention contributions to
international space exploration projects. Also
development of space applications in the frame of
Europe or the European Commission and the European
Space Agency. I would like also to recall that
Romania is continuing to strengthen its international
cooperation within the frame of the European Space
Agency.
COPUOS/T.551
Page 16
And between the last sessions of the
Committee, Romanian became an ESA Cooperating
State and the signature of the specific Agreement
happened during last February in Bucharest, under the
authority of the Prime Minister of Romania. By this
new Agreement, laboratories, universities and
companies from Romania will actively contribute to
the ESA space missions and technology applications.
This Agreement concluded also the establishment of
the ESA European Cooperating States Committee,
having as members the Czech Republic, Hungary and
Romania.
Agreements and technical cooperation
projects are ongoing and are in preparation between the
Romanian Space Agency and significant organizations,
as NASA and the French Space Agency, CNES, the
German Aerospace Centre, for projects directed to both
science and direct applications as space technology, as
for precision agriculture, environmental monitoring
and tele-medicine.
A Government Agreement on cooperation in
the peaceful exploration and uses of space is under
negotiation with the Russian Federation.
Also Romania continued the projects of
technical assistance for developing States and since
this year, is giving technical assistance to the Republic
of Moldova for remote sensing applications in
agriculture.
Mr. Chairman and distinguished delegates,
with reference to agenda item 6, maintaining outer
space for exclusive peaceful utilization of space
technology is a need and a must. Nevertheless, in
today’s world, we are ever more convinced that science
and technology should be used to enhance human
security and safety. The humankind is facing more and
more threats from the global Earth and space
environment, but also from terrorism, from deadly
diseases, from extreme poverty and hunger. Space
technology already proved its contribution to the
overall mitigation of the effects of natural disasters.
Nevertheless, we should improve the mechanisms and
increase the efficiency of the space tool utilizations for
better warning, monitoring and prediction, to a better
preparedness to meet unfortunate major natural events.
However, in the same sense, among the most
pressing problems we face today are harmonizing
economic development with global warming,
preventing the use of advanced technology by terrorists
and controlling infectious diseases.
This broader and more comprehensive
security concept, which goes beyond military aspects
and security of States, needs, for its development, as a
major pillar, the contribution of space activities. In our
opinion, this contribution could be undertaken by
maintaining both the peaceful aspect of space
technology development and fostering the maintaining
the outer space for peaceful purposes.
International efforts to address these problems
are needed more than ever and space and security are
items which are to be discussed again together in the
frame of most significant international organizations.
In particular, in the frame of the European Union,
space and security were brought together in the frame
of the new Research and Technology Development
Framework Programme 7.
As my delegation mentioned also during the
latest COPUOS sessions, space is generating
significant added value in the areas of security, as for
reliable information for early warning, operational
capabilities and readiness being proven by space
imagery, secure and reliable communications, space-
based positioning and time distribution.
In my country, I am able to announce that the
role of space in adding value to the security concept
has been already recognized. This means that the
Romanian Space Agency is in charge since more than
two years with the leadership of the Inter-Ministerial
Committee on Security Research and the National
Research and Technology Development Programme on
security research has been already started. And more
than a dozen projects include the utilization of space
technologies, as Earth observation, GNSS and satellite
communications for the improvement of security-
keeping mechanisms and for disaster monitoring.
Considering
the
global significance of the
disaster management and security aspects of space
developments, I might draw into your attention the
need for a growing role of the Committee and its
Subcommittees, together with an adequate definition of
their mechanisms in order to maintain the capability to
confront with those new challenges.
Mr. Chairman, concerning the seventh item of
the agenda, the opinion of my delegation is that we
should concentrate our efforts to contribute to an
efficient follow-up of the UNISPACE III
recommendations in taking into consideration the
appropriate local and regional capabilities and needs.
The outstanding work already pursued by the Action
Teams should be naturally followed by the definition
and implementation of action plans, containing specific