UN ESCAP Space Meet Inaugurated

UN ESCAP Space Meet Inaugurated
October 21,2004


The Governor of Karnataka, Mr T N Chaturvedi, today (October 21, 2004)
inaugurated the Tenth Session of the Intergovernmental Consultative
Committee (ICC) on Regional Space Applications Programme (RESAP) at Hotel
Capitol, Bangalore. This session is organised by the United Nations Economic
and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) and Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO).

Inaugurating the ICC session, Mr Chaturvedi said that Asia and the Pacific
has established itself as a global economy but the benefits are yet to reach
a majority of the population in the region. ESCAP should respond to the
dynamic needs of the countries in this region in the emerging globalisation
scenario and related social issues. He appreciated the role of ESCAP in
recognizing the role of space and its application to benefit the society at
large and to reduce the disparities between different sections of the
society. He said that space technology provides the last mile connectivity
for reaching the benefits of high technology to empower the rural
population. ICC could take note India's achievements in space and added that
India is ready to share its experience and at the same time broaden its own
understanding about the benefits of space.

Earlier, Mr Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO, in his address, highlighted the
achievements of India in space including the recent launches of RESOURCESAT
and EDUSAT and the applications of space technology in several fields like
communication, broadcasting, meteorology and resources survey. He also
highlighted the recent initiatives in space applications like Tele-Medicine
and Tele-Education. He informed that the first cluster of Village Resource
Centres was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India on October 18, 2004
which is aimed to benefit the grassroots level society by addressing several
applications like resources information, education, adult literacy, skill
improvement and tele-medicine. He urged ICC to discuss on how best space
technology could be utilized to eradicate poverty, illiteracy and disaster
warning and disaster mitigation. He also requested ICC to discuss on how to
reduce the cost of space systems and organization mechanisms to make
available the benefits of such systems to the society at the grassroots
level. He said that India is committed to share its experiences and
resources in the collective effort to give RESAP a new direction.

Ms Okaido Keiko, Deputy Executive Secretary, UN ESCAP, in her address, said
that the Bangalore session of ICC had the largest gathering of leaders of
space agencies and government agencies. She said that globalization is
shaping the economic and social scenario in the ESCAP region and RESAP has
been initiated to exploit space technology to manage this globalization
scenario and bridge the digital divide that exists.

Under the Regional Space Applications Programme (RESAP) for development in
Asia and the Pacific, the ESCAP, which is the Regional Commission of the
United Nations, promotes regional cooperation and facilitates equitable
sharing of the benefits of space technology primarily in support of poverty
alleviation, food security and disaster management. ESCAP derives necessary
mandate for carrying out these activities through Ministerial Conferences.
The first Ministerial Conference on Space Applications for Sustainable
Development was held at Beijing, China in 1994 and it provided the necessary
framework under RESAP for regional cooperation. The second Ministerial
Conference was held at New Delhi in 1999 and it identified specific common
denominator projects in the prioritised areas. India has been an active
player in shaping the RESAP programme, and by virtue of its leadership in
space technology and applications, it plays a key role in driving the RESAP
activities.

The high-level Intergovernmental Consultative Committee (ICC) guides the
RESAP activities. ICC is represented by Heads of space agencies in the ESCAP
region and it meets annually in different countries. The Tenth session of
ICC, inaugurated at Bangalore today will continue tomorrow also under the
Chairmanship of Mr Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO. This session is considered
as a milestone event in the backdrop of many UN Summits and rapid advances
that are taking place in space technology and applications. UN attaches high
priority to this meeting. Dr Kim Hak Su, Executive Secretary, ESCAP, is
attending the session besides several Heads of Space Agencies and other high
level UN dignitaries. The Bangalore session, which is being attended by
delegates from 16 countries and three observers, will set out the agenda for
the third Ministerial Conference and is expected to provide the content and
direction for that conference.

Dr V Jayaraman, Director, Earth Observation Systems, ISRO, welcomed the
delegates to the conference. Mr Xuan Zengpei, Chief Information,
Communication and Space Technology Division, UN ESCAP proposed the vote of
thanks.



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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info