Brussels, 09/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - In its conclusion on the Galileo satellite navigation system adopted on Tuesday, the Transport Council calls on the Galileo joint venture to continue work for selecting future Galileo consortia and to inform the European Commission of its choice of the best offer by the end of September. The joint venture is expected to choose between three consortia, which it selected in February to take part in the second stage of the selections procedure, ""Consortium Eutelsat", "Inavasat Consortia" and a consortium consisting of the Vinci Concessions, Alcatel Participations and Finmeccanica companies (EUROPE 7 February p 8). The objective was to decide by the end of the year on the launch of the following programme phases (deployment and operation), the Council is calling on the Commission to present it by the end of October with a communication on the basis of which it will be able to confirm the choice of company, set the Community financial contribution and determine the future Galileo public service missions. The Council is pleased with the progress accomplished in negotiations with the USA and is confident of getting the agreement signed by June, as well as the interest shown by certain third countries in Galileo. It also encourages development and international cooperation in this area (EUROPE 27 February p 8).