CNES will attend the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg from 26 August to 4 September 2002

The Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held from 26
August to 4 September 2002 in Johannesburg, is an opportunity for the UN
States to review the implementation of the Rio Agenda 21 and other
International Conventions aimed at building a future that furthers global
sustainable development.

The French Space Agency CNES, whose purpose is to "develop
space technologies that serve humanity", will be taking part in this
world summit in the form of a workshop entitled "space technology for
sustainable development", to be held on 2 September 2002 in the French
pavilion. Alain Bensoussan, Chairman of CNES, will be presiding the event
and will be representing CNES with Heads of State.

The workshop will feature three presentations by CNES
science and technology experts on projects developed in the realms of
tele-education (Pierre-Louis Contreras), telemedicine (Antonio G¸ell), and
Earth observation applied to global natural resource management and natural
disaster prevention (HervÈ Jeanjean). Peter Van der Westhuizen, Director of
the South African Satellite Applications Center (SAC), will also be
presenting a number of Earth observation missions conducted by emerging
countries.

Serge Plattard, Head of International Relations, and
Sylvie Callari, Head of UN relations will also be attending the summit and
will be available for interview.

CNES will be represented on the booth of the European
Space Agency in the Ubuntu village (no. 117 ‡ 125)