Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
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United Nations COPUOS/T.630 Committee on the Peaceful Unedited transcript Uses of Outer Space Fifty-fourth session th 630 Meeting Thursday, 2 June 2011, 10 a.m. Vienna Chairman: Mr. Dumitru Dorin PRUNARIU (Romania) The meeting was called to order at 10.10 a.m. Distinguished delegates, this morning we will first proceed with the adoption of the agenda. Before The CHAIRMAN Good morning doing so I would like to announce that today, during distinguished delegates. I would like to welcome you lunchtime, all delegations are invited to a reception all again and I now declare open the 630th meeting and hosted by the delegation of Japan to take place from 1 the regular fifty-fourth session of the Committee on the to 2.30 p.m. in the VIC Mozart Room. Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Adoption of the agenda (agenda item 2) Yesterday we held a commemorative segment of the fifty-fourth session of the Committee with a Distinguished delegates, you have before you, number of opening addresses and by adopting the for approval and adoption, the provisional agenda for Declaration on the fiftieth anniversary of human space the session contained in A/AC.105/L.280. This flight and the fiftieth anniversary of the Committee. provisional agenda has been prepared on the basis of We conducted a round-table discussion with prominent the arrangements reached at the 2010 session of the speakers sharing their experiences and views on Committee which was subsequently endorsed by the achievements made on space exploration and the future General Assembly in its resolution 65/97 of of humankind in space. We also benefited from a large 10 December 2010. number of national addresses targeting these extraordinary commemorative events. The An indicative schedule of work is set out in the commemorative segment concluded with the official annex to the provisional agenda. Please note that the opening of the exhibition here in the Rotunda of the annotations and the indicative schedule of work are not Vienna International Centre and the Office for Outer part of the agenda for adoption by the Committee and Space Affairs invited us all to a celebratory evening are included only to assist delegations. reception. We should now proceed with the adoption of Ì would like to thank all delegations, invited the agenda itself. guests, astronauts and cosmonauts, that participated in our celebration. The Office and the Secretariat of the Are there any objections? If I hear no United Nations for their great support in making this objections may I take it that the agenda is adopted? commemorative segment an event to remember. We will still have many more commemorative activities It is so decided. and side events taking place throughout the current session of the Committee. I would like to inform the Committee that I have received requests from the following delegations seeking permission to attend the current session of the ________________________________________________________________________________________________ In its resolution 50/27 of 6 December 1995, the General Assembly endorsed the recommendation of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space that, beginning with its thirty-ninth session, the Committee would be provided with unedited transcripts in lieu of verbatim records. This record contains the texts of speeches delivered in English and interpretations of speeches delivered in the other languages as transcribed from taped recordings. The transcripts have not been edited or revised. Corrections should be submitted to original speeches only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned, within one week of the date of publication, to the Chief, Conference Management Service, Room D0771, United Nations Office at Vienna, P.O. Box 500, A-1400, Vienna, Austria. Corrections will be issued in a consolidated corrigendum. V.11-83694 (E) *1183694* COPUOS/T.630 Page 2 Committee as observers, Afghanistan, Armenia, At the outset allow me to convey my deepest Azerbaijan, Belarus, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, condolences to and solidarity with the people of Japan, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Guatemala, Israel, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Oman, Panama, Republic of Moldova, Sri Sudan, with regard to the recent natural disasters that Lanka, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, as well have taken so many lives and caused so much damage as the Holy See, Palestine and the European Union. in those countries. These recent disasters once again show us how vulnerable we are and how important it is I would therefore like to suggest that, in to build capacities to mitigate the devastating effects of conformity with past practices, we invite those disasters. delegations to attend the current session and to address the Committee as appropriate. This is of course without Space tools are indispensable in such prejudice to further requests of this nature and does not endeavours and the Committee has continuously made involve any decision of the Committee concerning efforts to promote and increase awareness and capacity status, it is a courtesy that we customarily extend to building in the use of space technology applications at such delegations. the international, regional and national level, in many critical areas of concern to all humanity such as If there are no objections we will proceed disaster management, climate change, food security accordingly. Are there any objections? I see none. and global health. It is so decided. Distinguished delegates. This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the first human space flight I would also like to inform the Committee of which opened new horizons for space research and the application by Azerbaijan to become a member of exploration. On 12 April 1961 the Soviet cosmonaut, the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Yuri Gagarin, completed the world’s first manned The official communication by Azerbaijan was space flight on board a Vostok spacecraft. I would like received by the Office for Outer Space Affairs on to congratulate the Russian Federation on this event. 31 March 2011 and was duly communicated to all permanent missions of member States of the Thirty years ago, also on 12 April, the United Committee in a note verbale. The note verbale received States Shuttle Colombia took off for its first test flight from Azerbaijan is contained in CRP.7 to this session. becoming the first reusable spacecraft. This was a The Committee will take the decision on this request remarkable endeavour and the courage with which the under agenda item 15, other matters, next week. United States have pursued this programme and its contribution to international cooperation in space are Delegations will also be provided with CRP.6 recognized by all countries. I would like to containing a compilation of all documentation received congratulate the United States on this anniversary. since last year’s session of the Committee in support of the application by the Association of Remote Sensing I was fortunate to fly myself into outer space Centres in the Arab World for permanent observer 30 years ago accomplishing a scientific mission on status with the Committee. board Salyut-6 space station as the Space Shuttle concluded its first flight. This valuable experience I Now, distinguished delegates, I will present the had changed my vision and approach on global issues statement of the Chair. making me pay specific attention to the protection of our planet Earth and to helping global and regional Statement by the Chair (agenda item 3) development through space applications. Excellencies, distinguished delegates and Yesterday, on 1 June, during the representatives. It gives me great pleasure to welcome commemorative segment and the Round Table, we you all to the fifty-fourth session of the Committee. I were able to consider and identify a number of am honoured to have an opportunity to once again important points which would, I hope, assist us in our preside over the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of work at the current and future sessions of the Outer Space, I thank you all for your continued support Committee. I, myself, drew a number of conclusions provided to me and your efficient cooperation. I would which I would like to share with all of you. also like to thank my colleagues in the bureau of the Committee, Nomfuneko Majaja of South Africa and We need to look more closely into how Raimundo González Aninat of Chile, for their valuable advanced space research and exploration systems and support to the work of the Committee. technologies could further contribute to meeting COPUOS/T.630 Page 3 challenges, including that of global climate change and space by making important decisions in terms of to food security and global health, and endeavour to protecting the Earth and space environment and in examine how the outcomes and spin-offs of scientific enhancing the capacity of States in promoting research in human space flight could increase the economic, social and cultural development and by benefits, in particular for developing countries. enhancing the understanding of regulatory frameworks and mechanisms to that effect. We need to support regional and interregional cooperation in the field of space activities which is Through the years there are many experts in becoming to be even more essential for ensuring the science, law and policy that have offered their skills peaceful uses of outer space, assisting States in and time to guide our Committee and subcommittees in development of their space capabilities and the processes leading to concrete results. I would contributing to the achievement of the goals of the therefore like to take this opportunity to extend my United Nations Millennium Declaration. We also need sincere appreciation to all of them for their to ensure a closer coordination between the Committee extraordinary contributions and leadership in and other intergovernmental bodies involved in the advancing our common endeavour to continuously global development agenda of the United Nations manifest the unique role played by COPUOS and its including with respect to the major United Nations two subsidiary bodies at the global level.