Galileo cooperation set to extend to Argentina
The Commission has announced its desire to open negotiations with Argentina on a cooperation agreement for the development of Galileo, Europe's global navigation satellite system. A number of Latin American countries expressed an interest in collaborating on Galileo following the last joint EU-LA summit in May 2004. Discussions are already underway with Brazil, Chile and Mexico, and the Commission is now seeking the Council's approval to add Argentina to that list. 'This proposal for a new international cooperation agreement clearly underlines the success of Galileo and demonstrates again the widespread interest in the project,' said Commission Vice President with responsibility for transport, Jacques Barrot. Argentina signalled its desire to pursue cooperation with the EU following a successful information day and bilateral meetings held in Buenos Aires in December. Preliminary talks have focused on possible collaboration in the areas of market development, industrial applications, ground segments (and possibly also satellite segments), training, and regional and local augmentation systems. Furthermore, the Galileo Joint Undertaking has launched a call for projects in Latin America to establish a Galileo information centre and to conduct awareness raising, training and demonstration activities in the region. International interest in the Galileo project is by no means limited to Latin America; cooperation agreements have already been signed with China and Israel, and negotiations are currently underway with India, Russia, Ukraine, South Korea, Malaysia and Australia
Countries
Argentina