| | Space: ESA and EU sign cooperation agreement
25 November 2003
On the heels of the launch of the White Paper on Space, European space policy took another
leap forward as ESA and the EC successfully
completed negotiations on a new Framework Agreement, signed today in Brussels.
The Agreement was signed by European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin, ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain and Letizia Moratti, Italian Minister for Education, University and Research.
Fields of cooperation include science and technology, Earth observation, navigation, communication
by satellite, human spaceflight and micro-gravity, launchers, and spectrum policy related to space. The
ESA and the EC will launch and fund joint projects, participate in each other's schemes, create common management agencies, carry out studies and jointly organise conferences and training of scientists,
exchange and share experts, equipment and materials, and access to facilities.
The Framework Agreement has two main aims. The first is the coherent and progressive development of
an overall European Space Policy, which will specifically seek to link demand for services and
applications using space systems in support of EU policies with the supply through ESA of space
systems and infrastructures necessary to meet that demand. The second aim of the Agreement is to
establish a common basis and appropriate practical arrangements for efficient and mutually
beneficial cooperation between ESA and the European Union, fully respecting the institutional and
operational frameworks of each.
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