This morning, Deputy Minister Manlio Di Stefano opened the webinar on “Italy-ASEAN Space Cooperation for Emerging Global Challenges”, organised by the Foreign Ministry in collaboration with the ICE Agency. The event follows on Italy’s obtaining the status of “development partner” of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are members.
“Italy is one of a few countries with an all-round capacity for products and services in the space sector, which puts us at the global forefront, ahead of many international competitors. Today’s event is also the result of our work to become ASEAN’s development partner and enables us to offer new opportunities to Italian businesses operaing in this sector, and their supply chains, which in most cases consist of start-ups,” the Deputy Minister said.
The webinar was participated by the President of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Giorgio Saccoccia, and authoritative representatives of ASEAN countries, of 21 leading Italian space companies and of the three Italian space associations (AIAD, AIPAS, ASAS). At the end of the event, virtual B2B meetings were held between companies operating in the sector.
“The technology developed by our country – the Deputy Minister continued – can contribute to the resolution of global problems, such as food crises, global warming, sea pollution and monitoring the Earth’s resources from space, in support of the sustainable development of nations and to contribute to the achievement of the 17 Goals set by the UN Agenda 2030”.
“We are collaborating with Malaysia, at the space agency level, for the organisation next year of the 5th International Space Forum to be held in Kuala Lumpur in 2021, which we hope to be able to attend in person, at last.” the Deputy Minister concluded.
