Brussels, 20/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - The kick-off for the Community action plan for GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) was given on Tuesday in Brussels. For the first time, users and providers of GMES services and technologies met within the GMES steering committee, a body that assists implementation of the action plan aimed at finalising a European autonomous global surveillance system by 2008. Participants at the meeting also included representatives of the Commission, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Council's Secretariat General, Member States, the European Environment Agency and Eumetsat.
As the meeting opened, Philippe Busquin, European Commissioner for Research and Space Policy, said: "At the European Summit in Barcelona, last weekend, the Heads of State and Government reaffirmed the Union's ambition to become the most competitive world economy (…) and to invest in the creation of knowledge and technologies. In Europe, we have the very best scientific and space technologies. We must make greater and better use of them to raise the challenges of our global society. The GMES is not only of strategic importance for space research, but it will also help Europe to better project its values and its policies in the world, for example, in order to guarantee sustainable development".
Welcoming the substantial progress accomplished over the past year thanks to the broad support of European decision makers for the growing involvement of all actors concerned, Philippe Busquin felt that the organisation of actors, the establishment of initial specifications for operational information and the provision of first services would be the next stages. A GMES forum will be organised at the end of June under Spanish Presidency to launch the discussion on GMES and its scientific, social and economic implications. The Commission, for its part, is determined to develop partnerships with the users and other parties concerned - above all between the public and private sectors - and will present a report to the Council and Parliament on the initial phase of GMES, said the Commissioner.