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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
COPUOS/T.551
Page 10
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.