Statement of the G-77 and China during the Fifty-Sixth session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, 11 to 22 February 2019, delivered by H.E. Mr. Omar Amer Youssef, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Egypt, Vienna, 11 February 2019
Madam Chair,
On behalf of the Group of 77 and China, I would like to express our gratitude on your Chairmanship of the 56th session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of COPUOS and assure you and the members of your bureau of our full support this session. The Group would also like to extend its appreciation to the Director of the Office for Outer Space Affairs, Ms. Simonetta Di Pippo, and her dedicated staff in the Secretariat for the documentation and planning required for convening this meeting.
Madam Chair,
The Group welcomes the increasing awareness of the potential, importance and impact that space activities have today, especially considering the fact that several members of the Group of 77 and China which are part of COPUOS have included space activities into their national programmes. The Group also welcomes Cyprus, Ethiopia, Finland, Mauritius and Paraguay as the new members of the Committee.
The Group would like to seize this opportunity to express its high appreciation for the work that COPUOS and its two Subcommittees have carried out, as the main UN forum, in promoting international cooperation on exploration and peaceful use of outer space and on offering an appropriate environment to discuss matters that have great impact in the development of nations for the betterment of humankind.
The Group of 77 and China is willing to engage in the discussions of this Subcommittee to support measures to enhance international cooperation in space activities so as to make the benefits from space activities available to all the peoples of the world. Considering the high importance the international community attaches to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Group is of the opinion that on-going and future activities in this area should contribute to sustainable development, particularly in developing countries.
The Group of 77 and China wishes to recall the established principles related to outer space activities, including the principle of exploration and use of outer space on a basis of equality, the principle of the non-appropriation of outer space including the moon and other celestial bodies, and the peaceful use of outer space.
Madam Chair,
Several of the issues to be discussed during this session are of paramount importance to developing countries. The Group believes that in order to achieve the main objectives of this sub-committee, it is important to concentrate our work in areas such as building and promotion of the technological capacities, transfer of technology, prevention and mitigation of natural disasters and scientific-technological research in developing countries within the framework of international cooperation.
The Group of 77 and China is of the opinion that space technology applications must translate into concrete benefits in developing countries. To do so transfer of technology needs to be promulgated through capacity building and access to technology.
Therefore, the Group of 77 and China calls upon UNOOSA and the Member States for greater support to enhance both North-South and South-South cooperation to facilitate such transfer of technology among nations.
The Group of 77 and China would also like to reiterate its call upon OOSA and the Member States to make more opportunities available for greater academic linkages, long term fellowships and further collaboration among national and regional laboratories, UN research centers, other national and international institutions on space matters and institutions in developing countries.
The Group of 77 and China welcomes the events and activities that promote the interface and networking between the providers and users of space solutions, which plays an important role in our use of space technology to promote Sustainable Development Goals, especially the ones to be held by the members of the Group, including China, Fiji and Jordan.
Madam Chair,
The Group considers that more attention should be given to various space-related issues and activities, including the Safety Framework for Nuclear Power Sources Applications in Outer Space, among others, through adequate strategies, long term planning and regulations.
Regarding space debris, the Group is of the view that the future of space activities largely depends on its prevention and mitigation. This topic should continue to be treated as a priority with the view to further increase research in the areas of technology for space debris observation, space debris environmental modeling and technologies to protect space systems from space debris and to limit the creation of additional space debris.
The Group of 77 and China is also of the view that, the deliberations on the issue of “Space2030 Agenda and its Implementation Plan” should take into consideration the contribution of space-based-systems to sustainable development and avoid any measures that would limit access to space by nations with emerging space capabilities. These processes should be given full consideration to the key concerns of developing countries and avoid setting up overly high standards or thresholds for space activities in a way that may hinder the enhancement of capacity building. In this regard, the Group emphasizes, once more, the need for capacity building to ensure that the required technical expertise is made available to Member States, especially developing countries.
Madam Chair,
We have indeed an adequate mechanism before us in COPUOS to address space related issues. We must recall that people worldwide count on the UN system to address global needs particularly the needs of the developing countries. In a spirit of cooperation and consensus, it is the hope of the Group that we will be able to address these issues and to come up with the outcomes which will contribute to global prosperity through the promotion of enhanced international cooperation on the peaceful uses of outer space.
