PRESS BRIEFING ON VIENNA OUTER SPACE CONFERENCE

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING ON VIENNA OUTER SPACE CONFERENCE

The Third United Nations Global Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III) will be held in Vienna from 19 to 30 July 1999, the Director of the Office of Outer Space Affairs of the United Nations Office at Vienna, Nandasiri Jasentuliyana Duliyana, told a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

Mr. Jasentuliyana, who attended the noon briefing with the Special Representative and National Coordinator for Austria of the Conference, Peter Jankowitch, said the objective of the Conference was to promote the use of space technology in solving regional and global problems, such as the protection and management of the environment, land and ocean resources, as well as the enhancement of education and medical services through tele-education, distant learning and tele-medicine. New applications were being developed involving earth observing satellites for monitoring illicit drugs and the detection of landmines.

He said the Conference also aimed to strengthen the capability to use space technology for economic and social development, particularly in developing countries, and to increase public awareness of the usefulness of space technology. In addition, the Conference hopes to build a partnership between the United Nations, governments and agents of civil society, particularly the space industry. The Conference would hopefully facilitate greater awareness in decision makers and policy makers of the use of space technology for developmental purposes. All countries could make use of the advances in space technology.

During the last decade and a half, he continued, rapid advances in space science and technology had made possible many practical applications of space technology in daily life. The end of the cold war made it possible for greater international cooperation in the field. With the commercialization of space, industry had replaced governments as the engines driving space activity.

This would be the first United Nations conference that did not have its own budget, he said. Funds would come from the budgets of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and the Office of Outer Space Affairs. The Committee had reduced the costs of its conference services by cutting down on the use of verbatim records, using instead unedited transcripts, and reducing the length of its sessions. The savings realized were being used to finance the Conference in Vienna. Also, to keep costs down, the Conference was being organized as a special session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space that would be open to all Member States.

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Another Conference innovation was that it would be the first United Nations conference to invite industry to be an equal partner with governments, he added. It would bring to fruition the Secretary-General's idea of

involving civil society in United Nations activities. There would be many technical activities, seminars and symposiums headed by space agencies and Chief Executive Officers of space industry around the world. Round tables would be held at which Chief Executive Officers, space agency heads and government officials would examine problems.

So far, regional preparatory conferences had been held in Asia and Latin America and others were scheduled for Africa and Eastern Europe. There would be several large exhibitions and other media activities. A number of astronauts and cosmonauts would also attend.

The Preparatory Committee was preparing the Vienna Declaration, an international policy framework or blueprint to guide governments and industry in the first half of the twentieth century. The Conference would adopt a plan of action as part of the Declaration, with a number of activities that governments would undertake with industry for the benefit of all countries, such as: establishing an early warning system for disasters; disaster management using earth resources and communications satellites; and the use of satellites for educational, medical and health services in rural and remote areas.

He called attention to the fact that the space communications market alone in the year 2000 was projected at $1 trillion, while half the earth's population had never made a phone call and 96 per cent of Internet services were in the developed countries.

Mr. Jankowitch, who was Chairman of the Outer Space Committee for 20 years and is also the former Foreign Minister of Austria, noted that UNISPACE III would be the last major United Nations Conference in the twentieth century and, he hoped, a building block for a type of global governance. It would be an occasion to celebrate space achievements, particularly the thirtieth anniversary of the moon landing. In addition to including industry and a large segment of the civil society, it would open a dialogue with future generations on what should be the space agenda of the twenty-first century.

The Austrian Government, with the United Nations, had prepared the excellent working conditions for the members of the international space community, the media and other participants, he said. The Conference would be opened by the Federal President of Austria and, he hoped, the Secretary-General. A main part of the Conference would be a large space exhibition organized by the American Institute for Astronautics and Aeronautics. Modern conference exhibition space had been made available for the international space industry. He hoped the Conference would be an occasion for governments, particulary of developing countries, to display

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their space technology needs and that it would establish a dialogue between the government and industry, the users and the producers of space technology.

A correspondent asked about the substantive impact of the "weaponization" of outer space on the peaceful uses of outer space. Mr. Jankowitch said he hoped that was something of the past, something that characterized the years of the cold war. He hoped that space was no longer considered a place for military competition. Mr. Jasentuliyana added that the 1966 Outer Space Treaty provided for disarmament and stated that no nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction would be placed in outer space. Today, civilian satellites see one metre resolution in earth observation. Five years ago, one could not get six metre resolution, because it was reserved for military purposes. Much of the military hardware was now used for civilian purposes. The threat was no longer there. Now governments were emphasizing the peaceful use of technology.

The Security Council had called for a cap on missile development, the correspondent continued. How did that affect the work of the Committee? Mr. Jasentuliyana explained that the cap referred to missiles for military purposes. There was no cap on rockets for civilian purposes. Rockets were being manufactured by civilian companies. Most of the launchings in the United States, for example, were carried out by private companies.

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