Tripartite talks on launch of satellite project

Date: 08/07/1999

By Renée Cordes
THE European Commission will next week call for talks to be launched with Russia and the US on developing a new generation of navigation satellites to be used by commercial aircraft, trucks and other transport operators.

At their meeting next Wednesday (14 July), Acting Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock's colleagues are set to endorse a negotiating mandate.

The move comes a month after transport ministers approved €40 million in funding for the start-up phase of the Galileo project, which would develop European satellites to make transport faster, cheaper and safer. The satellites would be deployed on the ground and in space to enable transport operators to select the best route by helping them to pinpoint more precisely where they were.

"Member states have given us the green light to go ahead with this," said an aide to Kinnock, who has championed the project. "It is important to work together with the Russians and the US, who have the existing technology, during this first phase."

Keyword: Galileo.