Galileo family expands as EU and India sign agreement
After intensive exchanges held since January 2004, negotiations on India's participation in Europe's satellite radio navigation programme, Galileo, have resulted in agreement. The agreement, initialled on 7 September in New Delhi at the EU-India Summit by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair representing the EU Presidency, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will ensure the availability of highest quality Galileo services in India as well as cooperation to establish regional augmentation systems based on EGNOS and Galileo. With India having well-proven capabilities in space, satellite and navigation related activities, the agreement will provide a positive impulse for India and European industrial cooperation in many high tech areas. Welcoming the outcome of the negotiations, Vice-President of the European Commission with responsibility for transport, Jacques Barrot, said: 'This is another important step for the development of Galileo as an international programme, but also a major milestone in the EU/India partnership.' India is the fourth non-EU country to join the Galileo programme, after the conclusion of agreements with China, Israel and Ukraine. Discussions are also underway with Argentina, Brazil, Morocco, Mexico, Norway, Chile, South Korea, Malaysia, Canada and Australia. The ever growing interest of third countries to participate in the Galileo programme is a major boost for the GNSS market, which already has considerable potential: 3 billion receivers and worldwide revenues of some 275 billion euro per year by 2020, and the creation of more than 150,000 qualified jobs in Europe alone.
Countries
India