N° 54–2000: Luxembourg strengthens its ties with ESA

6 September 2000

On 12 September, Mrs Erna Hennicot-Schoepges, Minister for Culture, Higher Education and Research of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and Mr Antonio Rodotà, Director General of the European Space Agency, sign an agreement that will enable Luxembourg to participate in ESA's ARTES telecommunications programme.

A member of the European Union and the Council of Europe, Luxembourg has already acquired experience in space matters through its involvement in Intelsat, Eutelsat and Eurocontrol, and through its national activities linked to space. With this agreement, the Grand Duchy will reinforce the European dimension of ESA.

ARTES, ESA's Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems programme, consists of several elements, each covering a particular area of telecommunications such as on-board processing, multimedia/global information infrastructure, advanced mobile systems, tele-education, tele-medicine, tele-conferencing, and data exchange. The programme aims to improve the competitiveness of European industry on world markets for communications missions, and to promote new services for advanced communications systems. ARTES also provides support to other application programmes (navigation and earth observation) through specific actions.

The signing ceremony takes place at ESA Headquarters on Tuesday 12 September at 12:00. After the signature, Mrs Hennicot-Schoepges and Mr Rodotà will address the press. Media representatives wishing to attend are kindly requested to complete the attached accreditation form and fax it back to the ESA Communication Department, Media Relations, on + 33 1 5369 7690.

For further information, please contact:

ESA Communication Department

Media Relations Office

Tel. + 33 1 5369 7155

Fax. + 331 5369 7690