Israel will participate in the establishment of an information system on the Earth

At a convention held in Washington with the participation of representatives and ministers of science from about 30 countries, it was decided to establish an international system for the collection and distribution of information about phenomena occurring on the planet

 The American Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the establishment of an international organization for the planning and construction of an observation array on the Earth from satellites and airplanes.
At a meeting held last week in Washington, the American Secretary of State, Colin Powell, explained the importance of observing the Earth, from a scientific and geographical point of view. The conference was attended by science ministers from about 30 countries, including Australia, Italy, France, the European Union, New Zealand, Morocco, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand - and also Israel. Some of the participating countries are the "G8 countries" - developing countries that launch satellites into space.

During the conference, it was decided that the participating countries would formulate an international work plan for the purpose of establishing the mapping and observation system. Israel is a partner in four of the five working groups - network architecture, international cooperation, identification of communication needs and dissemination of information and identification of future requirements.
One of the proposals examined at the conference is the Israeli proposal to establish a global ICT network that will enable the distribution of the information collected from the future observation array throughout the world through open interfaces on the Internet. The proposal, intended to help researchers from different countries in the world, was accepted by the conference.
The Minister of Science, Modi Zandberg, participated in the conference on behalf of Israel. Zandberg said that "Israel's involvement in the program is important for strengthening our position in the field of space, in increasing the accessibility of Israeli scientists and the space industry - in such a way that it will create more jobs for Israelis."