EU and Israel reach agreement on Galileo
An agreement allowing Israel to participate in the Galileo programme was initialled in Jerusalem on 17 March. The agreement will now be put to the EU's Transport Council for approval in June. Once formally approved, the agreement provides for cooperative activities in a range of sectors, including science and technology, industrial manufacturing, service and market development and standardisation. Israel will also be permitted to take part financially in the programme through a stakeholding in the Galileo Joint Undertaking, the body managing the programme. Israel is one of the eight countries in the international space community with experience in GNSS (global navigation satellite systems) applications and equipment technology. The country expressed an interest in joining the programme in June 2003, shortly after which, EU Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin told CORDIS News: 'It's great that Europe is developing Galileo, but in a global way. The navigation system should be as large as possible. [...] There was a lot of resistance to Galileo, especially from the US, but Galileo now appears as a system universally recognised by others. This is proof of Europe's ambition to stimulate cooperation around itself. Politically, this is very important.'