Brussels, 19/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on 19 March, European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin met Mr Yuri Koptev, Director-General of Rosaviakosmos, the Russian Space Agency. They discussed current and future progress in Euro-Russian co-operation in space, within the "Space Partnership", addressing the need for common research on the EU Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security (GMES) satellite programme, on launchers and on the satellite positioning systems GALILEO and GLONASS (see p.15). Busquin and Koptev also long-term issues like the joint exploration of the solar system.