SUNS  4318 Friday 6 November 1998


UNITED NATIONS: INVOLVING PRIVATE SECTOR IN OUTER SPACE

United Nations, Nov 4 (IPS/Thalif Deen) -- The United Nations, in a break from tradition, is marshalling the economic and technical resources of the private sector for a major international conference on the peaceful uses of outer space.

"This will be the first U.N. conference to invite industry to be an equal partner with national governments," Nandasiri Jasentuliyana, Director of the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs, told IPS.

Jasentuliyana said the conference - scheduled to take place in Vienna from July 19-30 next year - would feature many technical activities by international space agencies, along with seminars by executive officers of space industries around the world. A number of astronauts also were
expected to participate.

The "Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space" - also known as 'Unispace III' - would be the third in a series of U.N. conferences on outer space. The two previous gatherings took place in Vienna in 1968 and 1982.

The theme of the 1999 conference would be: "space benefits for humanity in the 21st century."

Jasentuliyana said the primary objective of the conference was to promote the use of space technology for economic and social development, particularly in developing countries, and to increase public awareness of the usefulness of space technology.

He pointed out that space technology already had been deployed for the protection and management of the environment, as well as for the enhancement of education and medical services through tele-education, and tele-medicine. New applications also were being developed involving
the use of satellites to monitor illicit drugs and detection of anti-personnel landmines.

The conference hoped to build a partnership between the United Nations, and governments and agents of civil society, particularly the space industry.

Jasentuliyana said that by the year 2000, the space communications market alone was projected to be worth about one trillion dollars. Currently, half the world's population had never made a phone call and 96 percent of Internet services were in developed countries. The potential, he said, was immense.

Since there was a virtual moratorium on all UN conferences due to the cash crisis facing the world body, Unispace III would not have it own budget, he said. Funds for the conference would come from savings in the budgets of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs.

The Committee had reduced costs by cutting down on verbatim reports, using only unedited transcripts, and reducing the length of its sessions. The savings realised were being used to finance Unispace III, he said but estimated costs of the conference had still to be determined.

Peter Jankowitch, former Austrian Foreign Minister and ex-chairman of the U.N. Outer Space Committee, told reporters that Unispace III would be the last major U.N. conference this century. It would also be an occasion to celebrate space achievements, particularly the 30^th anniversary of the moon landing, he added.

In a report released last week, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the U.N. Programme on Space Applications, in collaboration with the European Space Agency and the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, was providing assistance to scientists from developing nations to receive and utilise European Remote Sensing Satellite data in sustainable development projects.

The United Nations also was assisting South Korea in the operation of the Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council. Additionally, it was helping the U.N. Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) develop a programme for the management of large marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa.

Addressing the U.N. Special Political Committee last week, Pablo Macedo of Mexico said people around the world could now communicate with each other more easily because of satellite communications networks. Satellites also provided important information for the monitoring and
management of natural disasters, allowing people to better respond to minimise casualties and to mitigate adverse impacts on economic development.

Macedo also said that in remote and rural areas, particularly in developing countries, satellites could serve as powerful tools to enhance access to medical services and opportunities for education.

The United Nations, in partnership with industries and other agents of civil society, should ensure that those benefits of space technology applications could be shared by all people around the world, he added.

Nobuaki Itoh of Japan said he believed it was essential for the private sector to participate in Unispace III. The conference should discuss not only governmental activities but also the role played by space-related industries in providing benefits of space development to humanity.

But Gao Feng of China told delegates that national governments should shoulder a special responsibility for promoting space-related cooperation. "While it was true that the participation of the space industry and private enterprises were important," he said, "there should not be an excessive mingling of commercial factors in international cooperation."