Brussels, 07/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has proposed to start negotiations with Ukraine with a view to concluding a co-operation agreement for the development of a global civil satellite navigation system (GNSS). "This proposal for a new international co-operation agreement clearly underlines the success of GALILEO and demonstrates again the widespread interest in the project", said Commissioner Loyola de Palacio (Transport). According to the Commission, talks with Kiev could start by the end of the month, once the Council of Ministers of the EU has given the green light. EUROPE points out that further to the adoption of a joint EU/Ukraine statement on co-operation in satellite navigation matters in October 2003, Ukraine expressed a wish to continue negotiations with a view to an agreement on GALILEO. This kind of agreement would cover multilateral and industrial co-operation, research and scientific activities based especially around issues of standardisation, control of regional integrity and financial investments for the benefit of GALILEO, states a press release. The Commission services explain that Ukraine is one of the eight countries of the international space community with wide experience in space programmes. Kiev has also had considerable results in applications, equipment, the user segment and regional technology in the field of GNSS. Furthermore, the Ukrainian space industry is among the world leaders in the design and production of GNSS launchers and components.
International co-operation on GALILEO is developing quickly. Co-operation agreements have already been signed with China and Israel. Talks are underway with Russia, India, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. The signature of the EU/US agreement on 26 June confirms the complete interoperability and compatibility between GALILEO and GPS; this gave a considerable boost to the GNSS market which is, according to the European Commission, "potentially considerable": 3 billion receptors, annual revenue of 250 billion EUR globally by 2010, and the creation of over 150,000 highly-qualified jobs in Europe.