GALILEO Information Centre for Latin America: cooperation between EU and Latin America on satellite navigation intensifies

Brussels, 9 December 2005

On 9 December 2005, the GALILEO Information Centre for Latin America was inaugurated in São José dos Campos close to São Paulo/Brazil. Officials and business executives both from the European Union and the Latin American partners attended the opening ceremony. On the occasion of this event, Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of transport said: “The last EU-Latin America summit put satellite navigation on our common agenda. I see a huge potential for our cooperation on GALILEO. The information centre will help, in a very practical way, to foster our scientific and industrial relations in this promising field.” The GALILEO Information Centre for Latin America is the third such centre to open after the Centres in China and in the Mediterranean region.

The Centre, created for the benefit of cooperation with all Latin American countries, will constitute a focal point for the promotion of GALILEO services and applications in the region. Its mission is to implement information and training activities and to facilitate interaction between GNSS actors in Latin America and Europe.

The centre will be shortly complemented with a GALILEO cooperation project for Latin America which will actively support satellite navigation plans and developments of GALILEO services and applications in the region. Both projects are being initiated by the GALILEO Joint Undertaking with the support of the European Commission and the European Space Agency.

Preliminary information on the Centre can be obtained at the following address:

Ms Tânia Regina Freire Sanchez

Telephone: + 55 12 3945 6874

Fax: + 55 12 3945 6870

Email: sanchez@ltid.inpe.br

Background

GALILEO is Europe's satellite radio navigation programme. It was launched on the initiative of the European Commission and developed jointly with the European Space Agency (ESA). Contrary to existing systems, the GALILEO programme will be administered and controlled by civilians and offers an unparalleled guarantee of quality and continuity which is essential for many sensitive applications. It will thus prepare for the development of a new generation of universal services in areas such as transport, telecommunications, agriculture and fisheries.

International cooperation on GALILEO is developing rapidly. Agreements have already been concluded with China, Israel, India, Ukraine and Morocco and discussions are under way with Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Norway, South Korea, Malaysia, Canada and Australia. Moreover, the signature of the EU/US agreement in June 2004 confirmed the full interoperability and compatibility between GALILEO and GPS, thus giving a strong boost for the GNSS market which is indeed potentially considerable: 3 billion receivers and revenues of some €5 billion per year by 2020 worldwide.

For more information about GALILEO, please visit:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/energy_transport/galileo

http://www.esa.int/export/esaSA/navigation.html

http://www.galileoju.com

Item source: IP/05/1560 Date: 09/12/2005