Israel will invest 100 million dollars in the Galileo project in exchange for the possibility for Israeli companies to participate in tenders
Today in Brussels, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Communications, Ehud Olmert, will sign a cooperation agreement between Israel and the European Union, the main of which is industrial cooperation in the field of space (Galileo project). Minister Olmert said that the agreement guarantees a variety of cooperation between the Israeli space industry and other advanced industries and the corresponding European industries in a field of enormous commercial importance, which in the coming years is expected to control market shares in the order of tens of billions.
It should be noted that Israel is the second country to sign this agreement with the European Union after China. A number of other countries including India, Brazil and Korea are in various stages of negotiations with the European Union on the subject.
Minister Olmert attaches great importance to the agreement. The agreement allows Israel to participate in building a global system of strategic importance as well as to be part of the management body of a system that will be a major player in markets whose volume will exceed 100 billion euros within a decade.
Minister Olmert points out that this cooperation completes the agreed infrastructure in the field of trade, which the Ministry of Trade and Industry deploys to Israeli industry. The great value comes from the ability to build cooperation between the Israeli and European space industries. Today, in the absence of an agreement, Israeli industry finds it difficult to develop commercial cooperation with European industry, which is a closed industry and the scope of cooperation is low.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Communications, Ehud Olmert said that these days, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a key player in the negotiations on the action plan for strengthening relations with the European Union, as part of the Commission's "Wide Europe" initiative, this agreement An important message regarding the many possibilities for promoting relations between Israel and the European Union, and is an example of the economic and commercial agenda that a country with an advanced technological economic profile like Israel can and should build with the largest trade bloc in the world, the European Union.
The next step, according to Olmert, will be the opening of negotiations with the directorate responsible for building and deploying the project to define the segments in which the Israeli industry will be integrated. Olmert emphasized that the Israeli industry has great potential in integrating into the project during its commercial operation, and the representatives of the European Union have already conveyed in the talks that the Israeli capacity will contribute greatly to the system. "I mean right now," says the minister of the TMT, "that our activity will focus on the integration of advanced Israeli industries in the Ben project in its construction phases in the short term, and in the commercial operation phases, in the long term."
Galileo is a joint project of the European Union and the European Space Agency to establish a global satellite service to provide accurate location and time services. The scope of the project is over 3 billion euros. The system is supposed to enter the commercial operation phase in 2008. The European Union predicts that in 2015 the scope of the satellite services and products market will be about 150 billion euros and the established system will allow the industries integrated in the system to penetrate these markets.
During his short visit to Brussels, Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to meet with the top of the European Union, including the President of the Commission, Romano Prodi, who is finishing his post, Gunther Verheygen, the Commissioner for Enlargement Affairs who is in charge of the "Wider Europe" initiative, who may fill the next Commission (which will take its place this fall) ), the position of senior economic commissioner. Also, Olmert will meet with the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, Chris Patten, and the Commissioner for Customs Affairs, Frederik Bolkstein, to discuss the issue of the negotiations on the issue of exports from the settlements and Israel's accession to pan-European integration.
Yesterday, an agreement was signed in Jerusalem for cooperation with the European Union regarding the Galileo program
The agreement enables cooperation in a wide variety of fields with the European Union, including industry, R&D and standardization
CEO of TMT Ra'anan Dinor: Israel sees great importance in the agreement for cooperation in the field of space-global navigation systems with the European Union
18.3.2004
Raanan Dinor, Director General of the Ministry of Tourism, and François Lemoura, Director General of the European Union Commission, signed an agreement in Jerusalem yesterday for cooperation in the field of space - global navigation systems. The EU ambassador in Israel, a representative of the European Space Agency and representatives from the EU member states also participated in the signing.
Dinor stated that the agreement is the first step in Israel's entry into the European Union's Galileo project and it summarizes nearly two years of work. Dinor also added that his office intends to complete the overall move required for Israel's entry into the project by the summer of 2004.
The CEO of the Space Agency said that Israel's participation in the European Union's flagship project is proof of the high capacity of the Israeli space industry. The project is a basis for Israeli-European cooperation in the fields of space and enables the Israeli industry to integrate into the club of European space industries.
Dinor also noted that the signed agreement allows cooperation in a wide range of fields with the European Union and the European Space Agency, including industry, R&D and standardization. The agreement is a good example of the contractual system that the Ministry of Taxation is building with the aim of enabling access and market penetration. This is part of the Ministry of Trade and Industry's effort to make available to Israeli industry a wide variety of tools in addition to trade and R&D agreements.
Dinor and Lemoura concluded that the European Union, the European Space Agency and the Joint Undertaking, which is the body entrusted in Europe with the construction of the Galileo project, will hold a seminar in Israel during the month of April with the aim of bringing to Israeli industry broad information on the possibilities of integration into the project.
Also, the CEOs agreed on the upcoming activation of the steering committee within the framework of the agreement, the purpose of which is to examine and implement cooperation within the framework of the agreement.
Raanan Dinor, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Israel sees great importance in signing the agreement, both because Israel is the second country to sign an agreement in this area with the European Union after China, and in addition, this is one of the first agreements that the European Union signs, when the 10 countries The new additions are already inside.
Israel will invest 100 million dollars in the Galileo project
Israel is close to signing an agreement to invest 100 million dollars in the Galileo satellite project. This is what the Israeli ambassador to the European Union and sources in the project said; The Galileo project is supposed to be a European answer to the American monopoly on the satellite navigation system - GPS.
8.3.2004
By: Avi Blizovsky
Direct link to this page: https://www.hayadan.org.il/ileugalileo.html
Israel is close to signing on to join the Galileo positioning satellite project and for that purpose it must allocate 100 million dollars. Oded Eran, Israel's ambassador to the European Union, announced this in Brussels.
"This is an example of the cooperation of the European Union with Israel, without Israel joining the Union", said Eran and expressed his hope that the agreement will be signed in June this year.
The European Union and the Israeli government are discussing two options regarding Israel's accession: one option is for the Israeli government to invest money and technological information in the project and become a full partner. A second option is to run the project in Israel as a collaboration between the European Union and Israeli industrialists from the private sector.
Sources close to the project said that Israel will have to invest 100 million dollars if it wants to join the ambitious project. According to them, the geographical location of Israel may help to increase the coverage range of the system.
The Galileo project deals with the development of the European Union's satellite navigation system. The project, consisting of 27 satellites, is shared by the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) and is a European answer to the American monopoly on the GPS satellite navigation system. The estimated cost of developing and deploying Galileo is 3.4 billion euros.
The project is commercial and intended to meet civilian needs from various fields:
- the field of transportation: vehicle tracking, vehicle fleet management, wayfinding, speed control, guidance systems; The field of social services: help for the disabled and the elderly; Legal and customs field: Identifies the location of suspects, checking borders; the field of search and rescue, the field of public works; The field of leisure activities.
The general deployment of Galileo will include the establishment of two ground stations to control and manage the navigation tasks. The target date for the total activation of the system is the year 2008.
So far, China is the only country that has joined the project, even though it is not a member of the European Union. Accession negotiations are currently underway with: India, Brazil, Russia, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Mexico and Chile.
Background on the Galileo program
The Galileo program is the European Union's flagship program for the provision of satellite location and time services. The program is given great importance both because of the development of the knowledge-rich capabilities associated with it and because it will allow the participating companies to compete for a share of the satellite services market, a market whose value is estimated to reach tens of billions of euros within 10 to 15 years.
