A five-year renewable Agreement for Cooperation was signed today in
Brussels by the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA),
Antonio RodotĂ , and the Director General
of Eurocontrol1, Victor M. Aguado.

The Agreement establishes a general framework for cooperation and support
between the two organisations regarding the use of space technology for
civil aviation purposes in areas of common interest such as satellite
navigation, telecommunications and the environment.

Under the Agreement, the parties will exchange information regarding
programmes and projects, research results and publications, and will
coordinate research and development programmes.

Specific arrangements will be implemented, spelling out the technical and
operational interfaces between the respective activities and the roles and
responsibilities of the parties. Each party will bear the cost of work to
be done, without funds being exchanged.

One such arrangement will cover the safety regulation process for GNSS
with exchanges of information on the methodologies to be employed, sharing
of results obtained from R&D and technical projects and joint
participation in on-going projects. Operational validation will also be
taken into account by working together on all phases of flight: en-route,
standard non-precision approach and airport surface movements.

A Joint Committee of ESA and Eurocontrol representatives will be
responsible for the administration of the Agreement and for ensuring its
implementation, by examining potential areas for concrete cooperation,
evaluating the status of ongoing activities, identifying specific action
required and reviewing its general functioning.

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1European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation

For more information, please contact:

ESA Media Relations Service

Tel:+33.(0)1.5369.7155

Fax:+33.(0)1.5369.7690

Eurocontrol

External and Public Relations

Tel:+32.2.729.3602

Fax:+32.2.729.91.98