Lithuania has Joined the Modern Countries Club Which Deals with the Development of Space Technologies
From now on Lithuanian business and science communities will participate in the new space technologies development process and be entitled to using such technologies in their research activities and release of regular products. Today an Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the European Space Agency (ESA) Concerning Space Cooperation for Peaceful Purposes was signed.
The Agreement will guarantee scientific, technical and organizational assistance from the ESA professionals with no financial obligations. Within the framework of this cooperation Lithuanian scientists and businessmen will get familiar with standardization and certification requirements imposed by ESA on space technologies, products and services; they will also receive advice and have access to other necessary information.
The Agreement was signed by Minister of Economy Dainius Kreivys and ESA Director of Legal Affairs and External Relations Peter Hulsroj.
“Cooperation with and membership in ESA will allow Lithuania to be engaged in the development and application of state-of-the-art technologies; it will guarantee better development of high technologies in Lithuania and increase national competitiveness. Moreover, the ESA membership will ensure return on investment in R&D and technological development,” said Minister of Economy Dainius Kreivys.
Products developed using space technologies have been widely spread in people’s daily life; they include weather forecasts, internet access, TV broadcasting, satellite navigation, etc. The space sector is open to all modern scientific knowledge and may help develop the most advanced technologies in already traditional science and high technology-based sectors in Lithuania which include lasers, biomedicine, biotechnologies, power, new materials, fundamental natural sciences, etc.
Latvia signed the Cooperation Agreement with ESA in 2009; Estonia has already reached a higher stage of cooperation with ESA when a tentative period with ESA commissioning begins.
